Positive Ageing Digital Storytelling Intergenerational Program

Mark has been a social worker in aged care and disability for over 40 years with a keen interest in narrative, reminiscence and stories approaches in his work. He has been working at Swinburne coordinating the Wellbeing Clinic for Older Adults for the past 10 years – advocating strongly for a greater presence of mental health professionals, especially social workers within aged care settings.

He has recognised the importance of intergenerational programs which foster better relationships, communication and understanding between the generations – breaking down stereotypes and building relationships which add meaning and purpose to both the young and old alike.

He is also interested in building bridges between the artistic and therapeutic worlds in relation to emotional wellbeing. While both worlds have healing and transformation of lives at the centre, they work in separate professional and cultural spaces, and often lack a common language and framework. In 2021, Mark was a recipient of the Australian Social Worker of the Year Award (Inaugural).

Inspired as a boy by his grandfather’s eight-milimetre home movies, and then later by his mother’s passing, Sean picked up a camera to assume the role as the family’s historian by documenting the lives of his young family on their coming to Australia.

Since then, he has been engaged as a videographer working entirely within the arts, community and intergenerational spaces.

Therese graduated with a master degree in counselling in 2022. As part of the degree, she did a placement through the Wellbeing Clinic for Older Adults at Swinburne, where she was introduced to PADSIP while supporting residents in an aged care facility. Since then, Therese has led PADSIP projects in Melbourne.

Therese is an Advisory Council member of the Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice (AIIP). She is also a research assistant on two different research programs investigating different methods by which quality of life can be improved for older Australians – a subject she is passionate about.

Prior to studying her master degree, Therese headed up teams of project and product managers as part of commercial and regulatory undertakings.

Following her bachelor degree in psychology (honours) in the UK, Debbie completed a postgraduate certificate in education and an advanced diploma in teaching chidren with severe learning difficulties. After teaching in special education for many years, Debbie began volunteering with Griefline (a telephone counselling service) and taught English as a second language to refugees in Melbourne.

She subsequently completed a Graduate Diploma of Counselling at Swinburne, where she also worked on two major research studies evaluating counselling for aged care residents with dementia. Debbie currently volunteers as a co-facilitator of a group of carers of people with dementia.

Debbie has worked on multiple PADSIP projects, where she has been a joint program coordinator. She is extremely passionate about working in the intergenerational field. Her primary role in PADSIP is in facilitating contact between older adults, as well as younger children and teenagers, with an emphasis on encouraging individual strengths and creative input.

Craig has been a secondary school educator since 1987. Craig’s depth of experience includes over 15 years as a leading teacher in curriculum design, over 20 years as a student year level coordinator, and 17 years working in intergenerational programs.

In 2007, Craig became a founding member of PADSIP under the leadership of social worker Mark Silver. This innovative program commenced at Hawthorn Secondary College and has been running at Auburn High School since 2014.

Lysha is a PhD candidate in applied health services in aging and aged care on a joint scholarship between Deakin University and the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). She completed her honours degree in psychology at the University of Melbourne in 2019.

Her research interests include mental health across the lifespan, the wellbeing of older adults, aged care, and the chosen topic of her PhD project – intergenerational practice. She is an Advisory Council member of the Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice (AIIP) and convenor of its student and early career group (NextGen).

Lysha joined the PADSIP team in 2021 to conduct a pilot research project seeking to evaluate the program. Since then, she continues to direct the research and evaluation arm of the program, including design, data collection and analysis, and report writing for individual programs.

Bronwyn has a background in speech pathology working in her early career with adults with neurological challenges and more recently with children in educational settings within Australia and overseas.

In addition to her involvement in research and project teams, she is also a consultant and operated her own business Talk & Learn Speech Pathology from 2005 to 2020. She currently works as an educational speech pathologist in a local Melbourne school.

Bronwyn volunteers for the Boroondara Council in a program called the Boroondara Cooks – a meal sharing and social intergenerational program that connects volunteers with older residents who may find it difficult to prepare their own meals or are socially isolated.

Bronwyn has also been involved as a volunteer with PADSIP at Swinburne. She is passionate about the transformative nature of communication and the magic that occurs when mindfulness, empathetic listening and deep conversations intertwine to form meaningful connections.