What is wellness and reablement in aged care and home care

Wellness and Reablement build on people’s strengths and goals to promote greater independence and autonomy.

What is Wellness and Reablement?

Wellness is a philosophy that focuses on the strengths, abilities, and goals of individuals to encourage actions to promote a level of independence in activities of everyday living. Wellness informs a way of working with individuals receiving support from aged and community care organisations.

Like Wellness, Reablement aims to assist people to maximise their independence and autonomy through time-limited interventions that are targeted at a person’s specific goal to adapt to a functional loss or regain confidence and capacity to resume daily activities without the need for continued support.

Are you looking for ways to explain to clients and family members why short-term support through Reablement is important?

The A4 information leaflet below from KeepAble on ‘What is Reablement’ will assist you and your staff with the conversation. Staff can use the leaflet to talk through what reablement means with their clients and how it can help and then leave the information for clients, carers, and family to further their understanding.

We have also developed some guidance notes specifically for front-line staff – Understanding the importance of “Wellness and Reablement” to help them build their knowledge and feel confident to have the conversation with the people they support. Click the images below to open the PDFs.

Cover of the Guide to understanding wellness and reablement

We would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following community care organisations for their assistance in co-designing these resources and ensuring they meet the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds of their workforce and the people they support:

Umbrella Multicultural Community Care Services Inc, Multicultural Services Centre of Western Australia, ChungWah Association

What are good examples of Wellness and Reablement?

Research has shown that the sooner someone stops performing tasks for themselves, the faster they tend to lose their functional ability. The aim is to assist people to perform these daily activities independently for as long as possible, so they maintain the ability to maximise independence and autonomy. Retaining physical and cognitive ability helps people to continue doing the things they enjoy for longer.

Personal Perspectives

Read some more personal aspects of Wellness and Reablement. Click on the cards below to read more.

Personal story – Moving is good for us
We all know moving more is good for us and the people we support. We know that we need to be more active but sometimes it can be difficult to get started. Sometimes it’s just about moving a bit more every day in whatever way works for each person. Take a moment to watch this great video about Sue and her determination to keep moving every day in a way that worked for her and has put her back on her feet.
Small things can make a big difference
An Aged Care Assessor went through some of the common everyday activities that Claire and her husband were managing in their homes such as showering and dressing. It was during this process that Claire and her husband realised that there were some simple things they could do using small items of equipment, that would make their lives easier.
Getting out and about to reconnect
After he stopped driving, Stan decided it was time to get some help to be able to reconnect with his family and friends using a mobile app and public transport. Read about his story here

Providing support that focuses on individual client goals and recognises the importance of client participation is fundamental to the CHSP

Most Read Articles

Here are just some of the more popular articles pages KeepAble has created.

Guide to writing Support Plans
A support/care plan provides guidance to clients and support staff on how to work together in their pursuit to achieve the client’s goals.
Support Workers guide to Assistive Technology
Do you want to know more about assistive technology and equipment that can help maximise the independence and well-being of your clients? Review this article which has some very helpful support resources to download.
A Wellness Approach
As a person living with Alzheimer’s Disease, John is challenging the belief that a diagnosis means ‘end of life’. Here he explains how, with adaptations and timely therapy, it is possible to live life well with dementia.
Implementing Reablement
One of the core principles of reablement is the creation of a realistic support plan. An active assessment that observes the clients’ current abilities in all aspects of daily living and involves them in identifying the outcomes or goals they would like to achieve is the first time in this process.
A Cultural Approach to Reablement
In order to achieve equitable outcomes, current barriers to service access and use must be overcome.
Living Well with Dementia
There are potential benefits associated with exercise, including helping people living with dementia to maintain or improve everyday function and independence.