On the first Thursday for 8 months this year, 13 residents of Uniting retirement living villages, McRae-McMahon Place and Hawkins Place in Leichhardt, have gathered in the community room to share stories and connect over lives well-lived, culminating in a book launched today and aptly-titled, The First Thursday Memoir Writing Group.
The resident-lead initiative saw residents connect over storytelling and the creative writing process, in what has been described by the group’s organiser as ‘cathartic and therapeutic’. The result is a 40,000-word memoir collection reflecting on such themes as friendship, parenting, emotion, and satisfaction.
Leone Sperling, 87, organiser and a resident at Uniting’s McRae-McMahon Place in Leichhardt had the idea for The First Thursday Memoir Writing Group upon moving to the new retirement and independent living village. She established the group to help her meet like-minded people – those who love writing, storytelling and connection – and because of a belief that writing memoir stories would be a valuable and healthy activity for people her age.
“It was not unusual for the reader of a story to become tearful on reading their story to the group. I would set a topic each month that would enable the members to look at their past and find a relevant pertinent moment in their life to examine and turn into an exploration of the feelings involved in that memory. It is certainly a psychologically beneficial thing to be able to express genuine, honest feelings with one’s fellow writers and community.”
Renee England, Head of Senior Services at Uniting Sydney Central celebrated Leone’s initiative to create The First Thursday Memoir Writing Group at McRae-McMahon Place: “What Leone and her friends have created with this engaging and emotional book demonstrates just how wonderful it is to see residents come together in a shared common space. We’re proud to have created an environment that provides the opportunity for our residents to build and share community connections at Uniting.”
Authors of The First Thursday Memoir Writing Group include Leone Sperling, Thelma Abrahams, Brigid Sen, Michael Barker, Philip Ansoul, Geoff Amblin, Carole Bye, Julie Bailey, Ginna Hastings, Cathy Milgate, Rowena Simone, Maggie Wall and Richard Whitfield, each of whom came from diverse backgrounds and careers, finding joy in identifying the differences between their stories. One member, for instance, lived a few streets away from Leone, while others grew up in the UK and had similar experiences as children.
With research showing storytelling can increase resilience and wellbeing in older adults1,2,3, Leone hopes residents of other retirement villages and aged care services across Australia consider similar initiatives as a way to connect with one another and reflect on their life journeys to-date.
McRae-McMahon Place by Uniting recently celebrated its first birthday, following its launch in 2023 to meet a growing need for accommodation for seniors in Leichhardt and surrounds. The retirement living community was designed to deliver premium liveability for its residents as their needs change, ensuring the homes and communal spaces are accessible for all levels of mobility. It provides residents with peace of mind, with safety and security features included and maintenance outsourced to Uniting’s specialist team. Uniting also offers a continuum of care model that supports residents with a move to residential aged care if they require a higher level of care.
The First Thursday Memoir Writing Group is available via short print-run to friends and family of the residents. For further information, please contact Uniting via [email protected].
About Uniting Retirement Living:
Uniting is committed to developing retirement and independent living solutions for older people across NSW and the ACT. As the largest not-for-profit provider of seniors services in NSW and the ACT, Uniting currently has over 3,700 residents living independently across 24 independent living communities. Residents embrace an active lifestyle with care available when needed. Over the next decade Uniting will continue to invest in new retirement and independent living communities that generate financial returns that can assist to deliver social impact through concessional aged care, low-cost rental housing and social impact projects across the organisation.
1 Mager, B. (2018). Storytelling contributes to resilience in older adults. Activities, Adaptation & Aging, 43(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924788.2018.1448669
2 Dai, J. & MoIatt, K. (2023) Enriching Social Sharing for the Dementia Community: Insights from In-Person and Online Social Programs, ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing 10.1145/358255816:1(1-33), Online publication date: 29-Mar-2023
3 Lynn Chu, S. L., Garcia, B., Quance, T., Geraci, L.,Woltering, S. and Quek, F. (2016). Understanding Storytelling as a Design Framework for Cognitive Support Technologies for Older Adults. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Interactive Technology and Ageing Populations. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 24–33. https://doi.org/10.1145/2996267.2996270
