In this guest post, Brooke Edwards, newly appointed Wellness & Active Ageing Manager at Resthaven, shares her views on enhancing person-centred care, meaningful engagement, and holistic wellbeing through collaboration, innovation and a new organisation-wide wellbeing strategy.
How can residential aged care evolve to better align with each person’s abilities, interests, and aspirations? This question sits at the heart of my role as Resthaven’s Wellness & Active Ageing Manager – and it’s one I’m deeply passionate about answering.
At Resthaven, active ageing means supporting each individual in continuing to engage in the things that are most meaningful to them. It’s about person-centred care — understanding residents’ interests, strengths, and motivations, and creating opportunities for them to stay active and connected in ways that bring joy, purpose, and a sense of identity.
As an occupational therapist with over 13 years of experience across various care settings, including acute, sub-acute, community, and residential care, I’ve seen firsthand the power of meaningful engagement. My background includes roles in inpatient and community rehabilitation, dementia care, and behaviour support, complemented by a Master of Public Health. At my core, I’m driven by the belief that enabling people to do what matters most to them is key to wellbeing — and that’s what I aim to foster in this role.
I’ve always been fascinated by how health systems can be designed to deliver equitable, efficient care. Exploring the intersection of policy, technology, and economics with healthcare delivery has been a long-standing interest of mine. But my connection to aged care runs even deeper — back to my childhood school holidays spent with my Nanna, Daphne, and her friends at their retirement village. Those cherished moments shaped my deep respect for the wisdom and stories that come with age.
Supporting active ageing isn’t just about adding years to life — it’s about adding life to those years.
As Wellness & Active Ageing Manager, I oversee Resthaven’s Lifestyle, Allied Health, and Chaplaincy teams across all residential sites. I’m currently developing a wellbeing strategy to streamline processes, promote consistency, and strengthen wellbeing outcomes for residents.
We know that aged care is evolving — demographics, expectations, and standards around wellbeing and meaningful engagement are changing. Our residents today come to us later in life, often after experiencing significant changes in function or ability, and bring a wide range of interests and capacities. Our challenge is to support each person as an individual, ensuring our programs and environments reflect that diversity.
Collaboration is essential to achieving this. Health and wellbeing are holistic concepts — encompassing physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and social dimensions. We’re also seeing a growing shift in how society views ageing itself, with ageism being challenged and older adults empowered to embrace new opportunities and experiences.
I’m excited to be part of this journey with Resthaven. There is already so much inspiring work happening in the wellbeing space, and I’m looking forward to working closely with our teams to review and refine our approach, build on our strengths, and explore new initiatives that enhance residents’ quality of life.
