Our Outreach Approach
Our Outreach Team proactively met and engaged with thousands of older people in the community, particularly those who are not already in contact with, or were reluctant to access, formal services or support. We trialled innovative approaches to finding and meeting older people via street outreach and targeted outreach activities. Have a read of the research and learning reports as set out below.
Read our outreach learning report and our toolkit for practitioners.
For more information and for FREE OUTREACH GUIDANCE AND TRAINING contact Jo Stapleton, Ageing Better in Camden Good Practice Mentor until the end of March 2023. E: [email protected] or T: 0207 239 0474.
Jo can provide training for individuals and organisations to develop their own outreach approach/practice. This can cover
Street outreach skills
Door knocking and working in housing settings
Hosting and promoting informal pop-up events to find and bring local older people together.
Setting up informal outreach walks
Outreaching to engage with older men
Street outreach: finding the ‘people no-one knows’
Our Outreach Team was established to identify the so-called ‘people no-one knows’, who are often not in touch with traditional services. The team aimed to identify and signpost these older people to social opportunities in their communities. In this report, we share learning on effective outreach in the street, including on when and where to do it, how outreach workers should dress and the best way to start and continue street conversations to engage older people. Click here to read full report and read our blog.
‘Doorstep Outreach: a practitioner’s guide’
Are you a community practitioner looking for a positive way to find and engage with individuals who may be socially isolated? This guide details the ABC Outreach Team’s inclusive, person-centred approach to making first contact with older people on their own doorsteps. Click here to read guide.
Outreach in sheltered housing
We have produced two reports which explore how our Outreach Team engaged with residents in Sheltered Housing and encouraged community building.
The first describes a three-step approach to successfully meeting, engaging and bringing together residents, particularly those who are less likely to attend organised social events such as coffee mornings (e.g. older men). Click here to read full report.
The second presents the views of 37 people who attended these events and shows how the type of support offered by the Outreach Team can encourage lonely and isolated sheltered housing residents to take up opportunities for social engagement. Click here to read our report ‘A day of friendliness’.
Our work with older men
Short-term outreach to foster social connections away from formal settings
We talked to men who joined informal Outreach walks. They told us that non-social aspects of the walks, such as learning about the local area, as well as social aspects were important for their enjoyment of the walks. And they described how they were beginning to make social connections with their fellow walkers. Click here to read full report.
Insight into what men want
Our Outreach Team met and engaged older people who didn’t access activities or support services in Camden. Just under half were men. But the vast majority of the men we met didn’t go on to attend activities. We wanted to gain insight into why this was the case, so we asked men about where, when, what and how often they would like to do social activities. Click here to read full report or key messages.
Popping up in pubs: Introducing tech to older men
Older men are often underrepresented within Ageing Better in Camden groups. That's why we started doing outreach in pubs and betting shops, and eventually hosted an iPad session in a local pub.
Outreach during Covid-19
How to set up walking groups to foster social connections
During the Covid-19 pandemic, our Outreach Team found ways to proactively find and engage with the socially isolated older people who ‘no one knows’. This guide documents the Outreach Team’s approach to establishing walking groups to foster neighbourhood relationships between older people. Read the practitioners’ guide.
Developing a phone befriending service during Covid-19
Following the introduction of the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, Age UK Camden identified the need to set up a telephone befriending service. This was a response to the flood of anxious calls from older people, who needed both practical and social-emotional support. This report shows how key aspects of our Outreach Team practice supported rapid innovation in a crisis situation. Read the full report.
Outreach during Covid-19
During the Covid-19 pandemic, our Outreach Team had to find new ways to proactively find and engage with the socially isolated older people who ‘no one knows’. When regulations have allowed, they have used innovative methods to meet with older people at pop-up events in parks and other outdoor spaces. Read the report.
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What works in street outreach?
Street outreach with older people appears to be fairly uncommon. We brought together Street Outreach workers from other fields to improve practice by sharing tips and techniques which may be common across different client groups whom street outreach workers support.
Read the report ‘An ordinary conversation’ – what works in street outreach?
Toolkit for engaging with older people
We worked with partners including GLL, Camden Libraries and Parks and Leisure, to help them to engage with local older people. Read our research report ‘Not just for young people’ - Older people’s views of Ageing Better in Camden’s outreach events at local leisure centres’.
Also take a look at our toolkit for professionals who want to engage with older people.
