At a special meeting on 20 April 2016, members will be voting on a change to our name from Pastoral and Spiritual Care of Older People (PASCOP) to Meaningful Ageing Australia.
Background
As you are aware, setting up PASCOP was a bold move, showing our collective commitment to the highest quality of pastoral and spiritual care for older people in Australia, from any background, in any care context.
Our original name reflected our shared understanding that all people are spiritual, with or without an explicit faith commitment. Over the last three years we have been listening to the response of organisations and individuals as we talked about who we are are, what we do, and inviting them to join us.
The strong feedback we have received is that the aims of the organisation are a positive move for older people in Australia and the organisations that care for them, but that our name is a stumbling block. You may have experienced this yourself when talking about PASCOP in your own networks.
In the context of the organisation now moving into its post-establishment phase, the development of a number of new resources due for release in coming months, and an emerging profile with government, the timing for the change is right.
Why Meaningful Ageing Australia?
The Board chose this name because it creates curiosity and openness in the listener; and is already associated with our brand. To evoke the essence of what we are committed to, you may have noticed that soon after our establishment we adopted the tag line, Meaningful ageing. Our popular education and networking events are called Meaningful Ageing Seminars.