Welcome to Sailing the 7Cs

This website was created with a prime aim for people living in residential care to have a satisfying life.

It seeks Behaviours of Contentment in all residents, whether they have a diagnosis of dementia or not. It aims to prevent behaviours that suggest distress.

The BOOK Sailing the 7Cs to a Satisfying Lifestyle: Guide for Recreation Activity Officers in residential aged care champions the worker with a caring, thoughtful heart, who embraces Continuous Improvement, even if only  one little step at a time is possible. (Just keep stepping, and value your efforts.)

It is a book that examines 7 pathways to produce a satisfying lifestyle for residents. Some or all may be relevant for one resident or one activity. These are: showing we CARE; striving for two-way COMMUNICATION; encouraging CONNECTIONS with other residents and the wider community; maximising opportunities for CONTROL; embedding suitable CHALLENGES that offer the feeling of real success; to promote CREATIVITY and allow for spontaneity; and to make available opportunities to make a CONTRIBUTION in ways that suit a person’s values and interests.

It is a book that showcases a variety of approaches within each pathway to promote active engagement of residents in all levels of planning and delivery of lifestyle activities. This means we take a step back and be encouraging and supportive both physically and psychologically. It means we still make suggestions and take an active role in facilitation, but more importantly listen to the ideas and hints from residents, and think about them, and then have a conversation to show the person what they think really matters.

It is a book that helps understand that we need to look after ourselves too. Let’s look after our natural curiosity, compassion and caring aspirations- for everyone in our lives.

And I hope it encourages the reader to further investigate information and activity options from the ever-growing library of marvelous resources.