August DCSC: Building Strength, Proactive Movement & World Alzheimer’s Month
Here's the August recap, speaker slides & details about an important campaign this month!
Thank you, Coralie & Simon!
What a night. Our August DCSC was our biggest turnout yet, with lots of new faces, a packed room and even a little standing room only situation. At this rate, we may genuinely need a bigger venue (seriously, suggestions most welcome!).
We were back at the beautiful Kimpton Margot Sydney for another evening of good food, good conversation and the kind of practical, honest discussion we love at DCSC.
A huge thank you to everyone who came along, and especially to our brilliant speakers, Dr Coralie Wales OAM and Simon Kerrigan, for being so generous with their time, experience and ideas.
Turning Loss into Collective Strength
Dr Coralie Wales OAM Ph.D. (Adjunct Fellow at WSU School of Medicine & Founder of Strong Australia)
Coralie gave a moving talk punctuated by the deeply personal story behind Strong Australia. She shared with us the experience of watching her mum, Bonnie Jean, become increasingly frail, and the question that grew out of it, which is what if we helped people build and maintain strength much earlier, rather than waiting until so much of it has been lost?
Coralie asked a simple question: "What is STRONG anyway?", She explained it’s not just lifting heavier weights. Strength is built through the things we do every day, the people around us, our sense of purpose, and staying connected to the things that matter.
Coralie shared her early vision for Strong Australia:
Challenging Myths: pushing back on ideas like “I’m too old for strength training” or “I might hurt myself.”
Inclusion & Diversity: understanding how First Nations communities and culturally diverse communities build and maintain strength.
Geospatially Mapping What Exists: identifying safe, evidence-based local strength resources, LGA by LGA, so people can actually find trusted support near them.
Building Coalitions: bringing people together around shared values and learning from big public health movements that have already changed behaviour by making the message simple, visible and collective.
One of our favourite messages from Coralie’s talk was that we don’t need to fix everything at once. Start somewhere. Celebrate the small wins. And remember that community is bigger than any one of us. We really are stronger together.
Keep Moving: Purpose & Independence
Simon Kerrigan (Physiotherapist, Founder & Managing Director of Guide Healthcare and Guide Collective)
Simon followed with a wonderfully practical session on something that sounds simple but matters enormously. That is, just keep moving. Not because everyone needs to become a gym person overnight, but because movement helps us keep doing the things that make life feel like ours.
As the founder of Guide Healthcare and Guide Collective, Simon has spent his career rethinking how allied health, rehabilitation and preventative care can better support people as they age.
He talked us through the role of strength, rehabilitation and everyday movement in maintaining capability, confidence and independence, including for people living with dementia and the people who support them.
The big takeaway? Movement doesn’t have to be complicated or impressive to count. Small, regular things matter. Keep using your body. Keep doing the things that give your day purpose. Where you can, build strength before you desperately need it.
If you need somewhere to start, start today. Tomorrow will thank you for it.
A little September side note: It’s World Alzheimer’s Month!
September is World Alzheimer’s Month, and this year it also marks the launch of something very close to home for us. Our friends at the UNSW Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) (aka ‘Katya’s Day Job’) have launched their very first Dollar for Dementia campaign.
Documentary creators and sisters Adelaide and Lucinda Miller have joined CHeBA as campaign ambassadors ahead of the SBS On Demand premiere of their beautiful feature-length documentary Nansie, which follows their grandmother’s journey with dementia over five years.
Throughout September, CHeBA is asking Australians to give just $1 — or whatever they can — to support research into dementia prevention, earlier detection and healthier brain ageing.
It’s a very simple idea. One dollar isn’t much on its own, but a whole community giving together can become something pretty powerful. Which, frankly, feels very DCSC.
Want to stay in the loop?
If you’d like future event wrap-ups, speaker slides, useful bits and pieces, and first-look invites to upcoming DCSC nights, join our mailing list below.
And finally, thank you again to Coralie and Simon, our wonderful hosts at the Kimpton Margot, and every single person who walked through the doors.
These nights are only as special as the people in the room, and August was a particularly lovely one!
Details for our next gathering will be landing in your inbox and on our Upcoming Events page very soon.
See you at the next DCSC,
Katya & Monique
Dementia Care Social Club
