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About Us
‘Spiritual care is a healing balm for staff and an acknowledgment of the identity and individuality of every older person’.
Rachael Wass, CEO
Meaningful Ageing Australia is a registered charity and the national peak body for championing the spiritual care and emotional well-being of older people receiving care in residential and community aged care settings.
- Spiritual care ensures that each older person’s spirituality is supported.
- Spirituality is about how we create meaning, hope, purpose and connection in our lives.
- Spirituality is integral to, but not confined by, religion and faith.
For some, spirituality might be the peace and emotional wellbeing they experience through a connection with nature, or creativity, or through meditation or of being of service to others. For others, it might include religion and expressions of cultural faith.
We are not a faith-based organisation. We work inclusively with a range of aged care service providers and partner organisations who are united around a common goal of full quality of life and emotional wellbeing for the older people they are serving.
Meaningful Ageing Australia is the Australian leader in education and resourcing of evidence-based spiritual care for the ageing population in all aged care settings.
- We know that there are many aged care providers that value and strive to provide high quality spiritual care but are sometimes constrained from doing so by time and resource issues or lack of specialised skills.
- We create practical resources and education events to support these organisations to build staff confidence and capability so that they can integrate emotional support and spiritual care into their day-to-day work.
What is Spirituality?
There is now a large body of emerging evidence showing that spiritual care is an essential part of holistic care for everyone, particularly older people including, importantly, those living with dementia. The World Health Organisation views spirituality as inextricably linked to quality of life. Recent studies have demonstrated that spiritual health both predicted wellbeing and an older person’s ability to adjust to the challenges and transitions of ageing. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that staff who provide spiritual care receive the benefits of their own emotional wellbeing and a stronger sense of purpose, enabling them to better handle the emotional load of their work.
Spirituality is the way we seek and express meaning and purpose; the way we experience our connection to the moment, self, others, our world and the significant or sacred (adapted from Puchalski et al.). For more definitions please read our definitions document found here
Our Vision
For every older person to feel at ease in their life so they know and feel belonging, connection, and a sense of wholeness.
Our Mission
To support older people by promoting an inclusive understanding of spiritual care, developing capabilities and confidence to recognise and enable spiritual care, and advocating for the value for spiritual care.
Our Values
Wisdom
By engaging with our diverse communities’ cultures, beliefs, and traditions we can reflect, learn, and deepen our capacity to support older people’s spirituality.
Partnering
By joining with others, we can extend and complement our capabilities to have a stronger impact in our work.
Engagement
By representing, educating, and consulting we create an environment for others to share and advance the need for spiritual care.
Our Strategy
Meaningful Ageing Australia Strategic Roadmap 2025
The strategic ‘Roadmap’ for Meaningful Ageing Australia is founded on a clear appreciation of our current and future external environments.
Governance
We are a company limited by guarantee registered with the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission.
Our constitution can be viewed here.
Our ABN is 78 124 451 540.
Our ACN is 640873169.
We have a skills-based board who meet regularly throughout the year. Our board membership can be viewed here.
An annual general meeting of our members is held at least once in each calendar year and within 5 months after the end of each financial year of the company.
Funding
We are funded through membership fees and the sale of some products and services.
From time to time we receive project funding, such as the 2018 grant from the Australian Government to complete the National Guidelines for Spiritual Care in Aged Care.
Donations to Meaningful Ageing Australia are tax deductible.
We welcome project partnership and sponsorship from organisations who wish to support our mission and progress initiatives with social impact. You can learn more about our current partners and sponsors here.