Finding and engaging harder to reach older people in housing settings

The Good Practice Mentor team invite you to join them for a practical workshop session, exploring practical outreach strategies to support you to find and engage harder to reach older people in housing settings.

If you are a housing provider or engagement team, a member of a Tenants Residents Association (TRA), a community group or organisation keen to engage with harder to reach local people, door knocking can help you to find and successfully engage with residents less likely to attend formal groups and activities.

We’ll discuss the practicalities of door knocking practice, including arranging access and modelling safe behaviour. We’ll also share practical tips and best practice to ensure a positive doorstep conversation. How to informally capture insight from residents, create informal steppingstone opportunities to bring residents together and promote community connection.

During the workshop you'll hear about:

• How outreach practice can address barriers to finding and engaging harder to reach older people in housing settings.
• The impact of ‘community’ upon participation and how to reset, ‘nothing happens here’ culture.
• Practical tips for planning your door knock including arranging access and keeping everyone (door knockers and residents) safe.
• Conversational strategies and practical tips to ensure a positive doorstep engagement and the right questions to ask to capture insight from residents.
• How to create informal feeling ‘steppingstone’ opportunities as a first step to bring together the residents less likely to attend formal groups and activities.
• How to support residents to build a sense of community and to develop their own groups and activities.
• The support available from the Good Practice Mentor Programme to support you to find, engage, connect and work together with older people