NATIONAL UPDATE
LASA NEXT GEN:
WORKING WITH INDUSTRY TO DEVELOP AGE SERVICE LEADERS Are you ready to join us?
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ASA Next Gen is identifying new ways to partner with our industry in building a unique and sustainable platform—helping the new wave of age services professionals develop their ideas, as well as share their voice with current industry leaders. Community Partnerships are ensuring organisations are seen, heard, and noticed as a key collaborator and contributor to supporting our young leaders in age services. Our industry now has more opportunities to engage with our next generation of leaders. It’s vital for all of us to embrace initiatives that provide a platform for young professionals to share their voices, opinions and ideas. We know people are talking about age services and already forming opinions, whether they’re employed in the industry or witnessing grandparents and parents entering aged care facilities. Generation Y and Z are discussing age services with their co-workers and families, and are faced with the negative stories about the industry in the media. Age services is a large and fast-growing industry. The latest Productivity Commission estimates show the healthcare and social assistance workforce will soon make the largest contribution to employment growth, increasing by more than 252,000 by May 2024. Australia has an opportunity to set a new standard around how our industry responds to the needs of our ageing population. Between 2000 and 2030, more than one in five of the total population, or 5.7 million people, will be aged 65 years and over. LASA Next Gen is working with organisations, like Healthstrong, to ensure we’re all supporting younger employees to recognise age services as a dynamic and life-changing career. Residential Aged Care National Service Delivery Manager Kelly Mitchelson, from LASA Next Gen Community Partner Healthstrong, discusses why it’s important to collaborate and support emerging leaders in this rapidly growing sector. “At HealthStrong we’ve taken a forward-thinking approach to engaging with our industry,” says Kelly. “As a LASA Next Gen Community Partner, it means our predominantly young workforce can better connect directly with the industry through innovative education programs,
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Kelly Mitchelson and Samantha Bowen joining forces for a better ageing future.
scholarships and forums. These aged care industry leaders and experts are available in every state. This new partnership creates opportunities to ensure our allied health practitioner workforce has a platform to share ideas and contribute to a future in which we can all age well. “As Healthstrong’s national service delivery manager, it’s important that our team is given the opportunity to form connections and work collaboratively with industry professionals so we can build an industry that is agile, resilient and responsive to our ageing population’s care needs. “Feedback from our team is that the tertiary sector does not properly prepare allied health professionals for the age services industry. Specifically, there is limited focus on career pathways available for practitioners entering the sector.
