Thrive 55: Building age-friendly workplaces
As some of you may know when I started the National Centre for Integrative Medicine as a not for profit community interest company, I was committed to the idea of four pillars – within the Education pillar we developed and started delivery of the NCIM master’s Level 7 Diploma in Integrative Healthcare and triannual conferences; Wellbeing with clinical appointments for patients; Membership with the NCIM membership which is in its fifth successful year and finally Community, making Integrative Healthcare more accessible in community settings.
Within our Community pillar, we have been fortunate to secure some funding from St Monica’s Charitable Trust, with the aim of helping organisations understand and break down barriers faced by their employees aged 55+. Over 55’s make up nearly 1/3 of the UK workforce so supporting and encouraging our over 55’s to not only survive but to thrive in the workplace is essential for a forward thinking dynamic organisation.
This exciting new initiative is called Thrive 55: Building Age-Friendly Workplaces, and is designed to help organisations identify and remove the barriers faced by their employees aged 55 and over and promote an age-positive culture. We recognise experience and wisdom as valuable assets to any workplace and know by helping employees manage their health and wellbeing as they age, you can cultivate a workplace that prioritises resilience and productivity and boosting overall morale.
Dr Elizabeth Thompson