Voice of Aged Care

Voice of Aged Care

Hosted by: Dr. Julie Bajic Smith

Dr. Julie Bajic Smith is an award winning Aged Care Psychology Consultant with a mission: to halve depression rates in Australian aged care facilities by 2022. Her research has demonstrated a link between the...

All Episodes
All Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4

Episodes

#40: What is Emotional Contagion and How Relevant is it in Aged Care?

Season #4

Show notes: Episode 40 What is Emotional Contagion and How Relevant is it in Aged Care?  While I was at Uni, my PhD examined the concept of emotional contagion. But what exactly does this mean? It relates closely to...
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#39 How I Cope with Workplace Death and Dying

Season #4

Show notes: Episode 39 How I Cope with Workplace Death and Dying A topic that comes up often in my work is death and dying. There’s no doubt it can be difficult to talk about and process, and we all have our own way...
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#38: Interview with Sue Dawson, Chaplain

Season #3

Show notes: Episode 38 Interview with Sue Dawson, Chaplain In this episode I chat with a very special guest, Sue Dawson, who is a chaplain working in a retirement village and residential care facility, and a...
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#37: Demolition of a Retirement Village: Resident Impact

Season #3

Demolition of a Retirement Village: Resident Impact A beautiful retirement village I first visited over a decade ago is going through a significant change. The site is being redeveloped, with the existing single...
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#36: What Is Your Coping Style?

Season #3

We all have different coping styles, and we’ve all been exposed to different types of stress in our lives. So how do we understand the coping styles used in late life and what we can do about it? Stress is a normal...
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#35 How to Become a Mental Health Champion

Season #3

How to become a mental health champion At a recent event in Sydney, a presenter, a renowned psychiatrist, said something that struck a chord with me: It’s not about the tools, it’s about who will take us through...
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#34 What are the Signs and Steps to Psychological Support in Late Life?

Season #3

What are the signs and steps to psychological support in late life I get a lot of emails from people asking about the signs and steps to psychological support in late life. For example, maybe you’ve identified that a...
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#33 Sadness vs. Depression

Season #3

Sadness vs. depression What is the difference between sadness and depression? And how do we know if an older person is experiencing one or the other? Firstly, sadness is an emotion, and we all can get sad at times,...
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#32: Loneliness versus Isolation

Season #3

Loneliness and isolation are common in late life and two terms used interchangeably, yet there are not the same. Sometimes loneliness and isolation are normalised as part of ageing, and more recently with the pandemic...
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Improving Aged Care Staff Morale

Season #2 Episode #31

Working in aged care is rewarding but can also be challenging. The last two years have been particularly difficult with increased work demands. In this episode we discuss the importance of examining this topic,...
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Staying Motivated at Work and Dealing with Client Turnover

Season #2 Episode #30

In this episode we discuss the challenges of experiencing client turnover in aged care. We will cover communication styles, resilience building activities and the importance of self-care strategies. Links Buy my...
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#29: Supporting Elderly Clients With Multiple Losses

Season #2 Episode #29

If you are supporting an older person chances are they have experienced a loss. It may be necessarily be the loss of a loved one, it could the loss of independence, value, role and meaning. In this episode we discuss...
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