Fiona shares how “It’s so important that we just accept everybody for who they are… we shouldn’t be prescriptive in life.”

Fiona reflects on her early life experiences growing up across the UK and how her grandparents played a key role in shaping her passion for working with older people. From her career in occupational therapy to setting up her own business, she describes the journey that led to the creation of Reminiscence Learning.

We explore how Fiona developed innovative approaches to dementia care, including creating immersive reminiscence environments and the award-winning Archie Project, which connects schools with care homes. Through storytelling and creative engagement, Fiona highlights how children and older adults can learn from one another, breaking down stereotypes and building empathy.

This episode offers insight into how fun, creativity and real-world experiences can transform learning, support people living with dementia, and strengthen connections across generations.

Interesting Topics

⏱ 35:30 – Intergenerational learning between schools and care homes
 ⏱ 47:00 – Lessons from working with children vs adults
 ⏱ 55:30 – Advice for engaging and working with younger generations

Key Takeaways

• Intergenerational experiences can have a profound impact on empathy and understanding.
 • Creative approaches like storytelling and reminiscence can transform dementia care.
 • Children and adults learn effectively through the same engaging, simplified methods.
 • Small environmental and behavioural changes can significantly improve quality of life for people living with dementia.
 • Making learning fun, practical and inclusive encourages deeper connection and long-term impact.

You can contact:

Fiona Mahoney at fiona@reminiscencelearning.co.uk 

Reminiscence Learning https://reminiscencelearning.co.uk

Dr Carol Sargent at https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler at https://getbide.com/

Lynne describes how “Healthy ageing isn’t just about adding years to life – it’s about creating the conditions for people to live well for longer.”

Lynne shares how early experiences with her grandparents inspired a lifelong passion for healthy ageing and shaping environments where people can live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives. 

We explore how collaboration between communities, researchers, social entrepreneurs, carers and businesses can unlock practical solutions for an ageing population. From empowering people living with dementia to re-designing existing product to be age inclusive products, Lynne highlights the importance of innovation. 

This episode offers insight into how cross-sector partnerships can drive meaningful change and create products, services and environments that support people throughout the world to live well for longer.

Interesting Topics
⏱ 05:40 – Why innovation and collaboration are essential for supporting longer, healthier lives
⏱ 10:20 – Opportunities for organisations, communities and businesses to co-create solutions for ageing well

Key Takeaways
• Early life experiences often shape our commitment to improving later life.
• Innovation in ageing requires collaboration between science, communities and      industry.
• Inclusive design benefits people living with dementia, carers and the wider              population.
• Sectors such as travel and tourism have growing opportunities to support                 healthy ageing through accessible and inclusive experiences.
• Building healthier ageing societies requires curiosity, creativity and cross-sector      partnerships.

You can contact:

Dr Lynne Corner at lynne.corner@newcastle.ac.uk

The UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing at https://uknica.co.uk/

Dr Carol Sargent at https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler at https://getbide.com/

Our guest today is Neil Crowther, who joins us to talk about social care solutions. After a varied career in social care and disability rights, Neil founded the #SocialCareFuture movement in 2018.

“Focus your energy on trying to do what you can within the existing limitations and draw on the stories within your communities to power local changes”  

Neil’s career has been shaped through growing up in the northwest of England, meeting influential figures, moving to London and his first job working for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

He believes in the importance of involving people receiving support, while seeking their input in what’s needed and what will make a difference to them.

Listen to our discussion on the importance of changing the way social care is perceived: Changing the narrative from an expensive, broken system to one that is recognised as improving a person’s wellbeing, and that of the people and community around them. 

We hope you can come away with some ideas on what you can do to influence social care solutions so we can all feel loved, looked after and welcomed.

If you have any input, ideas, or even questions about our discussion, we encourage you to contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Mr Neil Crowther: crowtherconsulting@gmail.com

                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-crowther-19498134/

                               https://socialcarefuture.org.uk/

After leaving school, Tracey Jane went to college where she studied for a City and Guilds in community care, working with people of all ages. She continued and became a fully qualified nurse, specialising in mental health. Tracey Jane is fascinated by psychology, our moods and how our brains work. She gave up nursing, to focus on bringing up her children, setting up her own cleaning business to give her the flexibility to work around the lives of her family. 

When her children had grown up, she trained to be a life coach. Around the same time, within two months of each other, both her father-in-law and her godmother died. It was then she realised how little we understand the end of life and decided she would focus on supporting people with their grief. 

Tracey Jane talks about how grief affects both our bodies and brains. She describes how she set up her business, particularly how she developed her business skills. Coming from a nursing background, she had no training in business basics, but networked and met somebody who became her business coach, while she became their grief coach.

Tracey Jane explains how everyone grieves differently, and how her 6-step process supports them. Tracey Jane shares some wonderful approaches on how to help someone who has lost someone close to them around Christmas, with a range of options on how you reconnect with the person you’ve lost.

Tracey Jane talks compassionately about the issue of anticipatory grief, and how you can support a person with dementia when somebody very close to them dies. We also discuss how people generally avoid talking about somebody who is dead, but Tracey Jane’s advice is that anything you say is better than saying nothing at all. 

Take a listen to Tracey Jane to get a better understanding of how we can positively support ourselves, our friends and or business colleagues who have lost someone very dear to them.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Tracey Jane Redman: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Tracey Janejaneredwood/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Grief-Whisperer/61564917436789/#

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_grief_whisperer/

Email: Griefwhisperer.uk@gmail.com

Kelly and Amy share similar values around community resilience, and the importance of supporting each other along with access for everyone to physical activity, so it’s easy to see why they founded a Community Interest Company together.

Their first careers were different, but it is their shared passion of fitness that brought them together. Like many girls, neither were encouraged to enjoy sport at school, and it was only after leaving school that fitness entered their lives. 

Both understand that people are interested in people and started their business when both had young children. Understanding and listening to what people needed they decided their instantly know Kelly and Amy knew what they were talking about, and so the business started. 

They’ve now been working in their business Active Families for nine years and have developed lots of different sessions that connect people in their local communities. They’ve developed new ideas including an innovative project that they call the Wellbeing Machine – where they take activity to people in their own communities.

Kelly and Amy also share their new project, developing a device, which was showcased on The Big Idea show hosted by Sara Davies.

They talk about how they have built their reputation through developing their own business skills, ensuring their staff are the right people for the job, and seeking support from business mentors. 

Overtime, they have also come to recognise that they cannot do everything themselves, so have started to network with other organizations, leading to successful working partnerships including the Salvation Army. 

Take a listen and understand their learnings so you can develop a successful organisation that makes a real difference to the people in your local community.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Active Families 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/activefamiliesne

Website https://activefamiliesne.co.uk/

Having been diagnosed at the age of 27, Stefan shares what it’s like to live with a condition that can, during a flare-up, require him to go to the toilet between 20 and 50 times a day, and also deal with occasional bowel incontinence.

He tells us how he was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and why it’s important to see a medical professional if you see blood in your poo. 

Without any embarrassment - having overcome that emotion over the years – he shares what it is like to live with a condition that can, during a flare-up, require you to go to the toilet between 20 and 50 times a day, and also on occasion causing bowel incontinence.

He explains how by being open with the medical profession, they have been able to support him in both personal and professional life. This includes specific interventions when he is hosting events and attending professional speaking engagements. 

Stefan shares some practical approaches for how he manages his Ulcerative Colitis. He highlights the importance a ‘toilet for everyone’ makes to his life, advocating all new build public spaces should have these and explains why.

If you are concerned you might have Colitis or Crohn’s or are currently living with it then this podcast is well worth listening to. Equally, if you are worried about seeking support from the medical profession about something embarrassing, then you may gain some confidence to take that next step. 

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Stefan Thomas: https://www.facebook.com/stefanthomasdotbiz/#        

                          https://www.stefanthomas.biz/

Listen to Debbie share how her life took her on an amazing career journey and find out how she has supported lots of women to pursue a career that works around their lives.

She talks about how she left school at 16 and worked for British Gas where she spent a year working in Customer Services –  where people often shouted and screamed at her. Debbie says this prepared her for whatever life has thrown at her since.

She shares about the difficulties of having to care for her father, who had young onset dementia; her mother, Multiple Sclerosis and her ageing grandparents, all will also being a single parent with a young child.  

This is when Debbie set up her first business, using the skills she’d previously gained, and her personal network, juggling her time and using all the hours in the day. 

After the death of both her parents and grandparents, Debbie went on to establish other extremely successful businesses including a; network company, marketing business and business exhibition organisation.

Debbie has also written two Amazon best seller books, hosts a successful podcast and has won multiple national and international awards.  

She highlights the importance of ‘flexibility’ and how incredibly important this is for entrepreneurs, alongside the need to identify and work with “your tribe” of experts and trusted advisors. 

Listen and find out which of her helpful tips, accumulated during her 27 years of running her own businesses, could help you to establish your own successful organisation.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Debbie Gilbert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debgilbert/

Nasser talks about his early years, growing up in Iran and how his eyesight impacted on his learning, and how he lacked confidence because of this. However, when he came to England and began to study at college, he quickly grew in his confidence when he realised that it was his sight and not a lack of intelligence that had held him back.

Importantly for him, his father who didn’t go to school yet had an entrepreneurial mindset encouraged his children to work hard, and they all reached a high level of education. Nasser says his resilience comes from his father.

The other thing that helped him was his memory, because whereas he couldn’t see the blackboard, he could remember things well. He was once asked by his teacher after a mock A level exam how many of the 150 questions he could remember, so that they could make a note of them for the next year’s students to practice – and incredibly, he remembered 130 of them!

Nasser is passionate about how we educate young children. Instead of holding them back in education because they are dyslexic, or have a disability that means they struggle with Maths and English, we should focus on the abilities that they do have. Many people who have had learning issues as children have gone on to become great scientists or doctors – they have potential; we just don’t unlock it.

He shares how he set up his company Microlink PC and how he completely changed the way that students with disabilities were given computer equipment by the Government system. He realised that they weren’t actually being supported at all. The changes he made had a huge impact on many young people, which he talks about with, not surprisingly, great pride.

He also talks about how he thinks that for everyone, across all generations, ethnicities and backgrounds, working or being involved in something that gives your life a purpose is what makes the difference, not just making more and more money.  Helping others, even if only in a small way is what counts.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Already in a stressful situation, she was also trying to help her parents move into a retirement village. Lindsey had noticed her mum’s memory had started declining a few years earlier, and after the move, Lindsay met someone who told her he had reversed his symptoms of Alzheimer’s through natural processes. Lindsey goes on to explain this process. After spending time talking to him, she looked at the things he’d suggested and she came across Dr Dale Bredesen, a US doctor. Impressed by his work, she got her mum on as much of the Bredesen protocol as she could.  

Lindsey talks with passion about this protocol and how it is possible for so many of us to follow it, and how just cleaning up your diet can have a huge impact on your health.

She has now trained as a Bredesen health coach; one of only five in the UK.

Lindsey also explains what Brain Health actually means. Our brains are attached to our bodies, so whatever is good for your body is good for your brain. A good diet is key.  She recommends the YUKA app where, while shopping, you can scan food product bar codes and the app will tell you what’s in there, and recommend healthier options.

A great tip Lindsey shares how you can gain huge benefit by changing one small thing at a time  and if you make it a habit that you repeat  - all the better. So when you want to create a new habit, add it to something that you do regularly anyway eg. Clean teeth, followed by a single press up. You clean your teeth every day plus you’ll also be doing a press up each day. Over time you’ll probably want to do more.

You can contact Lindsey Byrne on Email: hello@thecognitivehealthcoach.co.uk
or take a look at her website: www.thecognitivehealthcoach.co.uk

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Debbie tells us about her early life and her incredibly successful, varied and interesting career. This has included studying French, generating advertising for Coronation Street, working her way up from a ski rep to CEO of Crystal Travel, establishing an airline company, creating Silver Travel Advisors and now leading Silver Marketing Association. 

We discuss the importance for every generation to follow their passions. Debbie talks about creating Silver Travel Advisors at the age of 50, and provides some brilliant tips about the reality of starting your own business.

In her current role at Silver Marketing Association, she describes why marketing to older people needs to change and highlights why intergenerational communication is so important.

We discuss the ways in which the Silver Marketing Association are working to support the media industry to become Age Inclusive through market research, white papers, webinars, networking and campaigning.  

Debbie provides some fascinating examples of age inclusivity from different countries, including the cutting-edge work being carried out in Manchester. 

Take a listen and understand more about exactly what Age Inclusivity is and why its something we should all be embracing.

You can email Debbie Marshall at debbie@silvermarketing.org
You can find out about the Silver Marketing Association at Silvermarketing.org

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Mike tells us how he became a charity event organiser, after years working in financial services. He describes the company he runs with his brother-in-law, Redwood Events Woody and highlights the transferrable skills which help him raise charitable

He explains how his passion for fundraising events started with his “Mad Auntie Ruth”, and how after her death he was conscripted to be the president of the branch of Save the Children where she had previously been the president.

When he and Woody started Redwood events, they were involved in arranging many different types of events for local charities and then worked with larger corporate charities raising funds for charities like BBC Children in Need. They developed an approach of walking from football ground to football ground or from sports ground to sports ground after Mike’s dad organised a charity walk to Oval cricket ground when he was a young boy

Their love of football introduced them to a lot of ex footballers and ex sports stars.  This is how he became a friend of ex footballer, Stephen Darby and has been involved with raising funds for the Darby Rimmer charity to support Motor Neurone Disease (MND) from its conception. 

We talk about MND, the various stages and how it affects people. Also, how the fundraising money supports awareness raising, provides people with grants to help fund the equipment they may need, and fund novel medical research. 

Mike shares some great tips about fundraising for charities and honing what you do to improve it year on year.

To date Mike and Woody have raised ~1.3 million pounds, and they are hoping to have reached a total of £500k for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation after the March of the Day 2 event.. 

Listen to hear about some of the footballers involved in this year’s March and find out how you could get involved to support MND.

You can contact Mike at

Darby Rimmer MND Foundation https://darbyrimmermnd.co.uk/
Redwood Events https://www.redwoodevents.co.uk/

Find out more about March of the Day II https://www.redwoodevents.co.uk/march-of-the-day-2025/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Maxine talks about her close friend Kate, who died with Alzheimer’s during lockdown. When she recognised some changes in her own mind, she was determined to get a diagnosis quickly.  She describes what happened to prompt this decision. Luckily, she got an appointment with a consultant neurologist. That was incredibly helpful: he was very respectful, he was honest, but he didn’t write her off. This consultant’s attitude was all about helping people to maintain their lives and carry on as normally as possible.

She talks about how scary it was after that initial diagnosis. She describes how she spent time preparing for what might come, and how she began to withdraw and lose her confidence about what she could do.  

But then she explains how she made her big decision that she wasn’t going to withdraw from life. She describes how she continues to write, and how she has become a dementia advocate and activist. She shares how dementia has led her to be more outspoken, less diplomatic and to use writing to help dispel the myths people believe around dementia. 

Maxine also shares her thoughts on the word Dementia and Alzheimer’s – and how she doesn’t like the way many people treat those with dementia. She finds it very helpful to be part of the dementia community where she meets other people who have dementia. But she thinks that everybody in society should treat each other with respect and care. 

She describes how she has organised her world to live with dementia: she uses Alexa to help her remember what she has planned for each day, she has learned to recognise how some of her senses have changed, and sometimes she’s able to keep calm when something might scare her. But most importantly, she says understanding what’s happening enables her to make choices.

Hearing Maxine talk about her life with dementia is both moving and inspiring, and leads you to her vision: rather than think that everything someone living with dementia feels is a symptom of dementia, it’s important to listen deeply, to empathise and respond.

If you want to understand more about how Maxine lives with a diagnosis of dementia, we would encourage you to read her blog and poems on her website https://www.maxinelinnell.com/

You could also read Knowledge is Power, published by Innovations in Dementia. This booklet was written by people living with dementia, including Maxine. It is for people living with dementia, to support you in living as well as you can. 

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

 Michael is now a writer, and founded Memory Bridge in 2003 after hearing someone on a documentary talk about people with dementia in a disparaging way and meeting someone from the Smithsonian Centre for Folk Life and Cultural Heritage. 

Memory Bridge exists to end the emotional isolation of people with dementia. They bridge people with and without dementia to each other in life-changing ways, with educational programs hosted on three continents.

 His passion is all about communicating with people, and he explains how people often feel disconnected from others, because they are not being emotionally cared for, creating emotionally isolation.

The training is designed to improve participants’ ability to attune to the emotions of a person with dementia and to establish a relationship of profound trust and mutual understanding, a foundation to all forms of person-centred care.

 Michael describes how a Memory Bridge educational programmes use learnings from people with dementia to enable us to be present with each other in emotionally profound ways. 

Memory Bridge participants are educated and encouraged to find a new way of being with people with dementia—a way that can turn awkward to flow, isolation to intimacy, and loneliness to companionship.

What is important is to give someone the kind of attention that enables people to feel that they belong and matter. He believes that communication is not a means to an end. It is the end.

‘Nobody is anybody without someone paying loving attention to him or her. ‘

 You can find Michael’s website here: https://www.memorybridge.org/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Steve tells us about his journey into politics. His interest in the environment was sparked as a youngster, and he thought that politics might be the place to go if he wanted to change the world. On his arrival at the House of Commons when asked what he wanted to do, he said he was interested in health.  When Theresa May became Prime Minister, he became Public Health Minister.

We talk about how the world of politics and health worked, and some of the initiatives that Steve put into place during his time in the role. Interestingly, Steve explains how influence in politics works and differs depending on your job, and when chairing the Health Select Committee you are able to have significant influence on the agenda. He understands the value of primary care, and was instrumental in the development of Pharmacy First. He has also strongly campaigned for earlier cancer diagnosis. 

We have a conversation about the disparity in NHS funding between primary and secondary care. He certainly doesn’t believe it should be the way it is, and shares his thoughts on the conundrum that faces the government, and the difficult political conversations that are needed.

Steve also talks about how important integrated care is for us to be able to be as inclusive as possible. 

If you’d like to contact Steve:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-brine-00979b1a1/
X: https://x.com/BrineHealth
Website: https://www.stevebrine.com/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

When you hear the story of Nicole’s upbringing, you will understand why she loves being with older people and why she fights for human rights for our elders. 

After becoming a registered nurse, she was recruited by a nursing home and quickly given responsibility for a large dementia unit others didn’t want to manage. After many successful years working in this area, she decided there must be a better way to support our elders.

This is when she decided to create a different social model based around community, where people feel safe, happy and are connected with different generations. She established this model while bring up her children and studying for her master’s in Gerontology. Her model showed a difference, was recognised and shared on social media. This is when Dr Rodney stepped in and supported her to create a training programme enabling her to share the model with other professionals.

When the pandemic happened and people couldn’t meet, Nicole became a COVID responder, spending large chunks of time away from her family, responsible for crisis management in different Care Home throughout Australia. This reinforced a desperate need for alternatives to care homes and gave her renewed self confidence to reconnect with Dr Rodney to create a better model. 

Together they have created their own care model, Community Home Australia. Listen and understand their care home solution and consider what you could learn and apply to your own life. Its truly person centred, where everybody supports one another as part of an extended family, with medical care available when needed.

Hear more about Nicole’s latest inclusive movement linking bright minds from across the globe who are passionately dedicated to making changes in the lives of our elders/older adults/loved ones. 

You can email Nicole Smith at nicole@communityhomeaustralia.org
Find out about Community home Australia https://communityhomeaustralia.org/
Sign up for OpenTheDoors  https://openthedoors.au/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

She tells us about growing up in a particularly poor area in the west end of Newcastle, in the North East of England.  Louise’s first job was at the Freeman Hospital where she was involved in some cardiovascular research that was published in a medical journal. Through this work she managed to gain admission to Northumbria University, where she graduated with a degree in Law.

After gaining an MSc, while working in a senior corporate leadership position in Hampshire, Louise’s parents, who lived in the North East, became ill with dementia. There followed a desperate time, travelling backwards and forwards to support her parents, whilst working full time and managing the family home.

She talks about the issues her parents had, and although not needing personal care, they did need practical and emotional support. This is when she realised that she had to find some help but couldn’t find any. 

So, she began to think about creating an app that would connect people who could provide support for those families who couldn’t book ahead and needed it in real time.  Then, the app Myfolks was created.

Louise shares the challenges she had from the time taken to set up the app, the cost and the issues of being a solopreneur.

She shares that one in seven of us is now caring while still working, and how it has a disproportionate effect on women in the workforce. In addition, there can be even greater challenges for the smaller number of men who are carers, and the impact it can have on their ‘masculine’ identity and their self-esteem.

She talks about the important need for employers to understand when their employees are struggling with caring responsibilities for their parents, highlighting that it’s not just the pull on their time, but also the emotional strain.  

Presently Myfolks is in the North East, Cumbria, St Helens, Warrington, Humberside, Lincolnshire and Sussex. Louise aims to focus on the coastal towns and the outskirts of large cities, because they tend to have a higher population of the elderly, and often have fewer services.

You can contact us at the following:
Louise Thompson: https://www.myfolks.uk/
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Previously having worked in social housing, Jules’ background is in health and safety, and now she is the falls engagement lead at ROSPA. They campaign for better design elements with Safer by Design and Safer Stairs. They also want to educate both the public and professionals, which they are doing through their Fall Fighters campaign.

Jules talks about how falls are a huge problem for everyone, but also about the attitude that falls are almost expected as you get older. In her previous job she was involved in a project looking at the reasons people have falls, and looking at how falls can in fact be prevented. She also talks about how falls can be trivialised, when in fact the consequences of falls can be far more serious for older and vulnerable adults.

We talk about the risk of falls, not only at home, but also in the workplace, and how it is partly through recognising dangerous situations and potential risks of falls due to the environment that people are in. Many people don’t recognise where risks are, and it’s about educating them to be more aware, though obviously in the workplace there are distinct regulations that the employer is responsible for.

Jules also reiterated several times about how fall prevention advice needs to be a person-centred thing, because we all behave and think differently. This was evident when talking about the different reactions people had to wearing lanyards or fall-prevention devices around their necks. 

Although falls are something that any of us can have, it is the older people who Jules is particularly hoping to help with her Fall Fighters campaign.

Find out more about RoSPA
RoSPA’s fall prevention hub for general home safety advice on falls:
 https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice-and-information/falls-prevention-hub

The fall prevention project in social housing: https://www.trentanddove.org/news/new-research-shows-avoidable-falls-in-the-home-can-be-reduced-by-69-per-cent-891/

And the RoSPA fall prevention toolkit based on the social housing project:
 https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice-and-information/falls-prevention-hub/professional-falls-advice/falls-and-their-impact-on-social-housing

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Adriane has a fascinating background and has spent much of her life in front of a camera, microphone or in a courtroom as a lawyer; radio presenter, and a tv presenter.  She was a pioneer of elder law, worked on US syndicated radio and hosted one of the first money programmes on CNN.  

Less than a year ago she and her husband of 52 years set up The Ageless Traveler, which is born out of Adriane’s passion for travel and wanting to make lifelong travel easier for us all.  She strongly believes that travel, tourism brings us to life no matter what our age, and wants to enable people to continue to travel throughout their life. 

She shares how she was involved in one of the first TV shows to talk about financial planning, helping people to learn how to save for their retirement.  Although she doesn’t like the word ‘retirement’ as you’ll hear.

Adriane explains various things people can overcome – one being how other people impose their fears on you. 

We talk about how technology can be used to enhance the Ageless Travelers’ experiences. We also discuss how the travel industry needs to wake up to the fact that there will be 1.6 billion trips taken by people over 60 in the next 25 years – yet the focus of marketing is generally aimed towards younger people.

You can contact Adriane on her website: https://agelesstraveler.com/
Her free eBooks: 

https://CaregiversTravelGuide.com

https://luxurytravelforless.info

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Recently she has launched a new company, Enable Rise with another friend, Samantha Bullock, also a wheelchair tennis player. Louise talks about how their passion around inclusion in various areas made them realise they could join forces and work towards making everywhere inclusive. 

Having been involved in sport from a young age, Louise talks about how taking part in tennis helped her socialise and made her feel both powerful and capable. Later it gave her opportunities to travel the world and meet other amazing people.

She talks about how her involvement in sport has opened many, many doors in her life in terms of her own confidence, but also in terms of raising her profile.

Louise also talks about her passion for tennis, explaining why she loves this sport specifically.

We talk about the gender gap in sport when Louise’s passion is that sport is for everyone. She thinks that boys and girls should have access to the range of all sports at school, from a young age; for example, not only girls play netball and only boys play football.

Whilst talking about the challenges involved in making sports more inclusive, we discuss how in fact people playing disabled sport need to have much broader skill sets to be able to play at an elite level. And then go on to talk about how these skills can be transferred to the workplace.

Louise explains very clearly what inclusion means to her; everyone should have the same experience, but for wheelchair users and people with disabilities, some adjustments need to be made. Therefore, it’s about managing a situation, so you get to the same outcome and the same experience.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

You can contact Louise at:

Mobile: 07733021123
Email: louiseannhunt55@gmail.com
Website: www.louisehunt.co.uk
Linked in: Louise Hunt Skelley PLY

During his time working as a mobility instructor, where he worked on people’s independent mobility, he became very involved in the entire process of helping clients find ways to interact with society. He recognised the many day to day challenges facing people and he wanted to help find solutions to those issues.

We discuss how much of the problem solving should be left to the problem holders. Gavin talks about how history is full of people who have invented solutions that didn’t necessarily answer problems, therefore, when it comes to inventing solutions to help people with their mobility problems, it is crucial that they are involved.

His has great advice to young innovators who want to help people: dedication, commitment, belief and the ability to keep going even if you have to give everything up because you truly believe in what you’re doing.

Gavin’s innovation is the WelcoMe app.  The font of the last two letters of the word are changed so that when reading it, people see it as, welcome me.  The reason behind this is that when it comes to customer service, and interacting with other humans, disabled people often feel they aren’t welcome.  

He talks about how as a mobility instructor he would run ahead of whichever venue his client was visiting and talk to the people in that venue – telling them how to welcome that client. He would give them 5 bits of information that meant when the client walked through the door, they felt welcomed into the venue, and that the venue understood their needs

The WelcoMe app means people can communicate with staff members before walking through the door of a venue. 

We talked about our focus for this week being Disabled Access Day and asked Gavin why he thought we needed the day?  Part of his answer was it should be every day, not just one day and he sees the day as one where you should be looking at what you’ve done in the past year and what you are planning to do this coming year.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

You can contact Gavin at Website https://www.wel-co.me/

Links https://linktr.ee/welcome.cs

Gavin Neate https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-neate?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Starting his business six years ago, presently he has 23 venues where golf clubs are put at the heart of local communities. What that means is, they are open for people facing challenges later in life, for many different reasons and they are given a great day out at a local golf club. There are two and a half thousand golf clubs in the UK – imagine if those spaces could be used as national venues…

As an entrepreneur Anthony aims to have a network of age friendly golf venues across the UK, but at the moment they are mainly in the north and Scotland. The company have regional leads – people who organise the sessions in their area. These regional leads often come to Golf in Society after their first career – bringing their experience and talent with them.

Golf in Society not only support people with dementia, Parkinson’s, stroke, loneliness and mental health issues, but also gives unpaid carers a well-deserved respite break.

Anthony talks to us about how people underestimate golf, thinking of it as elitist, very expensive and a pastime for the middle-class.  He is breaking down those perceptions and talks about its health and wellbeing benefits. Golf enhances strength, balance, grip, lets people enjoy the outdoors, provides fresh air, gives opportunities to socialize, respite care – and so much more.

We compare the current rate for respite care and other therapies to attending one of his Golf in Society sessions – you may be surprised at the positive outcome.

We also talk about transportation – which can be a huge barrier if you have a chronic illness – and how it is one of the challenges society needs to be overcome.

You can find Anthony on:
Website: https://golfinsociety.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-blackburn-37732a170/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Jane’s passion for her company is based on her own personal experience – of having her eldest child, Megan, born with an extremely rare chromosomal condition, and then also being diagnosed as autistic. After coming to terms with her daughter’s condition and learning how to cope with a life that was suddenly completely different to the one she had expected, she moved away from her previous career and into the one she has now.

Jane shares with us that people with autism are not all exactly the same. Like the rest of us, everyone is individual, and how one person behaves is not necessarily how someone else will behave.  She also points out another misconception – that learning disabilities and autism are not linked! You can be autistic and not have learning difficulties.

She does talk about how she finds the autistic world fascinating, because of all the different ways people can be affected. And as she explains this is why it’s so hard to give advice to parents of a child newly diagnosed with autism.

Jane talks very clearly about sensory stimulation and how some autistic people are overstimulated or under-stimulated by different things. And she also explains how she learnt to deal with her daughter’s meltdowns – which was the complete opposite of what she had expected to do!

This is a fascinating insight into living with someone with autism.

You can contact Jane via 

Her website : https://accessandinclusion.com/
Email: jane@accessandinclusion.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-cooper-accessandinclusionuk/
X: @accessandincuk

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/ 

David talks about how his father, in the 70s, had considered having log cabins on his farm to have holiday guests, but the council weren’t interested. Having taken on the farm and needing to diversify, David and Felicity revisited the idea of log cabins, and after research identified a massive hole in the market for accessible properties. Because they were building from scratch they were able to build the facilities that were needed in a very cost effective way. 

They started with 2 cabins, and gradually built up the business. The successful development of their business is down to their ability to listen to people and find out from their guests what their needs were. Over time, they have also built up the various types of special equipment needed and when they have several people ask about something, that’s when they consider adding it to their business.

Originally the farm was a commercial dairy farm, but in 2009 they took the decision to extend their number of cabins and they sold their dairy herd. Their business now is incredibly diverse. Holiday visitors include people who have disabilities, people with autism, dementia and other disabilities, as well as many multigenerational holiday guests, romantic couples or even a bring your own horse on holiday opportunity.

Hearing them both talk, the passion they have for their business is obvious and it becomes obvious that their attitude of listening and developing with their customers  has been a huge part of their success.

This podcast is also a must for anyone who is considering setting up a successful inclusive holiday business.

You can find David and Felicity on:

Website: https://www.hoegrangeholidays.co.uk/accessible-holidays-peak-district/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoeGrangeHolidays
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoegrangeholidays/

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

In terms of inclusivity, Billal shares his passion and thoughts about how much better the world would be if everyone, from all backgrounds, cultures and societies could articulately voice their thoughts to mass audiences in a clear way.  Public speaking shouldn’t be just something for the elite.  We also talk about the issues that sometimes arise for those who are aging, are living with dementia and long term conditions, or are from ethnic minority communities when it comes to being heard.

He talks about how having allergies as a boy growing up, and now, he often has to carry his pens around with him in his jacket, as he doesn’t always carry a bag. For other allergy sufferers, there are often issues with their epi pens being out of date, and some also suffer mental health issues because of their constant worry about having an allergic attack. Living with allergies means you are often excluded from social occasions too. It was these various things that pushed him into creating the Kitt Medical

Zak’s dream is that Kitts will be found in any building; schools, tubes, transport hubs, restaurants, hotels, stadiums, offices etc – schools are just the starting point.

Our conversation with Zak, who is passionate about his work, covers travel, and also the importance of having good friends who understand your allergy. 

Website:Www.kittmedical.co.uk

You can contact us at the following:

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

You can find out more about Rory at https://rorycellanjones.substack.com/p/a-test-for-parkinsons

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler can be found at https://getbide.com/