By Charlene Tebbutt

Volunteers needed to help seniors cope with bullying

Sep 20, 2018 | 5:57 PM

It may be something we learn about in grade school, but research shows peer bullying is an issue that can persist even into our senior years.

The Saskatoon Council on Aging is hoping to train volunteers in Prince Albert and North Battleford to address issues of bullying amongst older adults, or those over age 55. Kali Grainger, project coordinator with the SCoA said volunteers will be trained to give presentations on the issue to other seniors within communal-living facilities in their own communities. The training is available for staff and management as well, she said.

The organization received funding from the New Horizons for Seniors Program to host the training, which is aimed at not only addressing bullying, but helping to combat social isolation amongst seniors. Grainger said the goal is to educate and raise awareness about the issue and ways seniors can cope.

Grainger said research out of Saskatoon from 2016-17 looking at people in senior-subsidized facilities showed the issue of bullying is a big one for seniors.

“Nearly half the respondents had witnessed or experienced bullying within their living community,” she said. “It’s unfortunate to know that this occurs among adults at that age and at that time in their lives [and] it makes really tough for older adults to age in place.”

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Bullying amongst seniors can involve excluding a person from certain social groups, such as when seniors are excluded from sitting with others in dining rooms. Gossiping about others, criticizing a person’s appearance, threats or unwanted touching are other ways seniors can feel bullied, Grainger said.

“Seniors who are either victims of bullying, or even just the bystanders who witness it happening are tending to stay inside their suites more often, they don’t want to even be in the communal areas within their buildings, so isolation is a huge problem,” Grainger added. “From what we’re finding from the research and from talking to seniors in these buildings, it’s widespread, it’s not an isolated incident in one area or one building, it’s everywhere.”

Grainger is hoping to organize a training session for volunteers in this region in October.

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt