Age Concerns deliver a wide range of health promotion programmes, events, and workshops to meet the needs and interests of older people, koroua, and kuia in their own communities.
These programmes provide older people with knowledge and skills to support their health and wellbeing, and to stay independent in their community. Programmes range from weekly exercise classes, cooking and nutrition classes, health topic presentations, singing and dance groups, and technology support.
Type of programmes
Age Concerns develop programmes to fit the needs of their local communities, so they aren’t all the same. Here are some examples of the type of programmes you might find. The best approach is to contact your local Age Concern to find out what is on offer.
- Workshop on macular degeneration
- Non-impact aerobics
- Presentation on independent living and community support
- Aqua exercise
- Steady As You Go®
- Mental wellbeing programme
- Kapa Haka
- Cooking classes
- Social singing
Health and wellbeing information
As well as the programmes delivered by local Age Concerns, we also provide information on various health topics relevant to older people. We work alongside organisations, agencies, and businesses to gather the latest information and link people to trusted sources. We cover topics including memory and brain health, vision, hearing, bone health, and much more. Learn more here.
Steady As You Go®
An important part of Age Concern’s health promotion work is preventing falls in older people. Age Concerns offer weekly classes that increase strength and balance to prevent falls and improve wellbeing. A popular programme offered by many Age Concerns is Steady As You Go®.
Steady As You Go® is a fun, social, strength and balance exercise programme for older adults. Steady As You Go has been running since 2003 and uses exercises designed by physiotherapists, exercises from the Otago Exercise Programme, and exercises based on tai chi principles, mindfulness and controlled movement. The gentle exercises are designed to improve balance, leg strength, flexibility, spatial awareness, general fitness and well-being. The classes include a seated warm up, followed by standing, strengthening, walking and vision exercises and closes with a seated cool down.
A class is set up and led for the first ten weeks by a qualified Age Concern coordinator. These ten weeks include a pre- and post- assessment to track improvements. After the ten weeks, the class continues with trained peer leaders from within the group leading the group. The Age Concern Steady As You Go® coordinator continues to provide support to the group.
Over 7,000 people attend a peer-led class each week across Aotearoa New Zealand. This is what participants had to say about Steady As You G®©:
I love Steady As You Go®, I’ve been attending for 8 years and look forward to it every week.
Help us meet the demand
Our GoodMeasure Report tells us that for every $1 spent to run Steady as You Go® gives New Zealand $2 social return on investment (SROI). This means that over a participant’s lifetime, they will enjoy good outcomes including improved mental and physical health which translates to less injuries. For Aotearoa New Zealand, this means reduced emergency department visits and hospitalisation. Over 7,000 older New Zealanders attend these programmes each week and we have waitlists in many areas. This is a good example of how community programmes can lead change.
Do you want to support this popular programme? Find out more about partnering with us.
