Tamborine Mountain Community Care recently received a letter from a client’s daughter stating her joy at seeing the positive change in her mother after a few weeks of interacting with other clients who attended the Friday Friendship - Social Support Group. The names have been withheld to respect their privacy.

“I want to thank TMCCA for their excellent Social Support Group Services for senior citizens.

My mother, a client of Tamborine Mountain Community Care, attends the Tuesday Chair Yoga and the Friday Friendship Social Support Group. As her daughter, I can say that I’ve seen a marked improvement in her willingness to engage in social contact (as she tends to be reclusive) and actually ENJOY it. As someone who is hearing impaired, she finds social engagement difficult, but in the Friday Friendship group there are others who are similarly challenged and I think that makes a difference – she is not the only one and she can see how the others cope with varying degrees of difficulty. The cheerful spirit of the group and the people who run the program create a safe, welcoming space in which my mother is increasingly comfortable in participating. This is a joy for us to see. I think also, that it is a time for her to be her own person again, not mother or grandmother... amongst people of her own age. That has made a difference in her self-confidence.

We have seen an improvement in her cognitive awareness too – as the Friday group explores various crafts, topics and activities. She’ll do her ‘homework’ before going to a Friday group and often, she’ll be inspired to do further reading up on things she learned at the group. Then she is able to relay that information to us. This again, shows an improvement in communication and alertness. Plus, she picks up bits of information and history of the Mountain from people who have lived here a long time and I find myself saying ‘Look at you, you’ve only been here five minutes, and you know more about the Mountain than I do!’

We are very grateful for the services that TMCCA provides and delighted to see the improvement in my mother from one week to the next.

Highly commend the efforts of all who plan and coordinate the programs.
Best regards.”

Daughter of a TMCCA Client