Tales of Transition – Positive attitudes towards ageing.
Tales of Transition – Changing negative attitudes toward ageing.
Christopher Tovey became a self-funded full-time post-graduate research student at the age of 70 and has continued with his work as a psychotherapist in private practice.
Christopher’s webinar presentation given at Warwick University Centre for Lifelong Learning is about his ongoing PhD research which is working towards making a positive difference to the psychological wellbeing of adults over the age of 65. His research involves interviewing ‘talking therapy service’ users aged over 65 about their perceptions of counselling and their later life experiences of transition and change.
Christopher is contributing to a wider process of changing negative social constructions of age and ageing. He challenges current favoured medicalised attitudes to counselling, which tend to view people as passive patients rather than active agents of change. He is consulting and exploring the perspectives of older health care service users themselves. He investigates the potential for positive ageing experiences and lifelong learning opportunities to change the negative attitudes toward ageing.
