A sense of community won’t happen by itself

I wanted to discuss what I feel is a significant driver for people joining a retirement village – the ‘sense of community.’

Consider this, are your residents able to find companionship and shared experiences with like-minded individuals? Would you describe your village as a supportive environment that goes beyond bricks and mortar?

This sense of community doesn’t happen organically; it requires intentional investment to thrive and can diminish if neglected. And I don’t just mean financial investment.

January is the opportune time to reflect on the upcoming year and consider ways to keep this sense of community alive, or give it a good kick start!

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Are you undertaking a regular walk around the village?
• Do you host regular Village Manager morning/afternoon tea?
• Do you need a small budget to make contributions to kickstart events?
• How active is your social committee? Is there anything you can do to help?
• Does the village have an objective or common cause it can rally behind? These can be internal projects like rejuvenating a Community Garden, or external activities such as raising money for the local surf lifesaving club.
• Do you have a resident buddy system to accompany a new resident or reserved resident to activities within the village?
• Do you provide an opportunity for all residents to have a say in the items that are important to their lifestyle i.e. survey, informal meetings, suggestion box, feedback forms?
• When was the last time you checked in on ‘that’ resident? You know, the person you’ve been meaning to reach out to for some time now.

While we can’t be everything to everyone and we aren’t the Social Directors of a Cruise Ship, there are still things we can do. Ask yourself this, of the list above, what three things could you prioritise right now to achieve in 2024?

Let us know what you choose. We’d love to hear about your progress over the course of the year.