Cross Keys Homes has taken its digital inclusion support out to its retirement housing communities, with some lifechanging results.
At Cross Keys Homes (CKH) we are passionate about supporting people to get online and access all the services and connectivity the internet has to offer. We have been supporting people to get online with the Good Things Foundation’s Learn My Way course for many years, with some excellent results. The course enables people to learn at their own pace, but we offer extra support, by running sessions at our community hubs and in libraries and community centres across Peterborough, where our community team can take people through the course and support them all the way.
The covid pandemic really highlighted the digital exclusion affecting so many people when we all became isolated in our homes, relying on the internet more than ever for entertainment, news, shopping and keeping in touch with our loved ones. The older generation suffered more than most when they couldn’t facetime or zoom to see a friendly face.
As CKH’s digital inclusion work is very important we were determined to get the Learn My Way courses out to our older generation. At CKH we have 27 retirement housing and two extra care communities, and the communal lounges of these schemes were the perfect venue to hold our courses.
Since May 2021 we have been holding weekly courses in six of our retirement housing communities, in addition to the courses in the wider community. For residents in retirement housing the focus of the courses have been changed to better suit their needs. Instead of focusing on getting digital skills for employment, the focus has been on how people can use the internet to stay connected. We use whatever devices people have – smartphones, tablets or laptops and include how people can stay safe online. We want people to feel confident that they can access their bank or benefits safely, as well as being able to identify and avoid falling for scams and phishing attacks.
We cover all sorts of topics in the course, from the very simple ‘how to get online’ and how a mouse works, through to accessing the sites people need, from trusted sources, and include how people can start on social media and send emails in no time!
Many of our older participants are reluctant and anxious about getting online. From hearing so many horror stories of scammers, viruses and hackers, to just a fear of the unknown, it’s really important to take time and reassure older people that we will help them to understand safe practices. The course can be tailored to their needs, whether it’s video calling family in Australia, getting photos of their grandchildren, finding out more about their hobbies or connecting with an old army regiment, we can help them all to get the most out of the internet.
A big part of the course is also helping people to register their benefits accounts, access their MyCKH rent account, access their doctors and all the services that can really help them with ‘life admin’.
The organisation has now supported 33 people through the course in our retirement housing schemes and we have big plans to do more with the re-launch of the Learn My Way course going forward.
