A celebration of events and activities designed to increase community awareness of abuse of older people in your community.
Register your activity today.
Try any of these events:
- Plan a walk to raise awareness: Local councils could organise and promote a "Raising Awareness Walk" and invite community members to participate. Please read ''Steps for Organising a Walk' in the community activity starter kit for more assistance.
- Morning Tea for WEAAD: Consumer groups to invite an ARAS guest speaker to a morning tea gathering. Please contact the ARAS Abuse Prevention Program to organise a guest speaker.
- Forum - Cross Cultural Perspectives in Elder Abuse: Service provider could embrace cultural diversity and invite the CALD community to a forum to discuss their perspective on abuse of older people in their culture.
- Create an awareness display: Invite community members or schools to participate in developing posters and displaying these in libraries, local councils or shopping centres. You can download our poster for inspiration which you can print in A4 or A3 (Choose File > Print. Click Printer Properties. Go to My Tab. Go to Original Size and select A4 or A3).
- Information display: Service providers can organise a display of information for communities to access and promote local community activities to reduce isolation - abuse thrives in isolation.
- Invite a guest speaker to lunch: Communities can be invited to a lunch with a speaker from the ARAS Abuse Prevention Program. Please contact ARAS to organise a guest speaker.
- Wear something purple (colour of WEAAD) or have a symbolic decoration of a day room in purple balloons, table cloths and streamers: Wear a purple ribbon or wear something purple to commemorate WEAAD. Consumers in the community and residents in aged care facilities and retirement villages can be helped to make and wear purple ribbons made in craft.
- Positive messages: Service providers to wear badges with a positive message, for example, 'Respect & Dignity'.
- Plant a tree: The Mayor/Councillor to plant a tree to mark the day of WEAAD and the local community invited to attend the event. A declaration by the Mayor/Councillor to commit to reduce elder abuse in the community through raising awareness.
- Submit an article or letter to the Editor: This could be submitted the The Advertiser, your local paper or newsletter. Together we can take a stand against elder abuse! A sample newsletter can be found in the Community Activity Starter Kit.
- Host a lecture, debate or presentation: Sponsor a lecture, debate, speech or presentation on ways to prevent abuse and neglect in later life. Please read 'Host a lecture, debate or presentation' in the Community Activity Starter Kit for more assistance.
- Join or form a group: Establish a local group or a focus group to address a community concern, such as abuse of older people in the community.
- Social networking: Use social networking to raise awareness about the abuse of older people. Make sure to use #WEAAD in your posts.
- Radio or television: Can be used to deliver brief prevention messages through mainstream media or multicultural media.
- Essay or poster contest: Organise a 'Respect Your Elders' essay or poster contest in your child's school.
- WEAAD Certificate: Make your award a tradition every June 15th. Individuals/groups can be given a certificate acknowledging their participation and contribution. A special ceremony could be organised and certificates presented by the local Mayor. Click here to download a sample WEAAD Certificate.
- What organisations and businesses can do to raise awareness: Create an awareness display in your workplace. Use purple balloons at a purple themed morning tea with perhaps purple cupcakes. Include the WEAAD logo and information on your email signature during the week leading up to June 15th. Wear purple to work during the week leading up to 15th of June.
- Organise a flash mob: Enlist the help of local groups, choirs, children's groups to practise a song and show up wearing something purple at a designated time and location (e.g., in a park or a shopping complex). Film it, upload it to YouTube and promote it.
- Write a message: All aged care staff could write a message on a piece of purple card to describe what they have learnt from residents. The individual's cards can be placed on a larger board thanking them for all they have taught staff about life and living.
- Purple lighting: Use purple lighting in your community (e.g., schools, council, library, local shopping centre) to highlight the issue of elder abuse.
- Just ask:
- Ask your bank manager to train tellers on how to detect elder financial abuse.
- Ask your religious congregation's leader to give a talk about elder abuse at a service or to place a message about elder abuse in the bulletin.
- Ask your doctor to ask you and all other senior patients about possible family violence in their lives.
Register your activity today!