Activities for Lifestyle Assistants

Lifestyle assistants are responsible for developing, executing, and maintaining activity programs for people in senior care facilities. They aim to enrich the lives of the people in their care with arts and crafts, music and various other forms of entertainment.

As a lifestyle assistant a well-planned activity program which determines the needs of their residents is essential. It includes assessing and reviewing different program implementations and outcomes.

A lifestyle assistant should assess the occupational, spiritual, psychosocial, cultural and cognitive needs of the elderly residents on a regular basis, as well as coordinate with the other workers. This is a key part to keeping the lifestyle program at a facility fresh and stimulating.

In larger facilities, a lifestyle assistant works under the supervision of a lifestyle coordinator, who ensures that the program is implemented properly. In smaller facilities, one lifestyle assistant may be in charge of all the activities for the residents. In either case, one assesses the preferences and requirements of the residents by interviewing them and meeting with their families. The assistant will then plan programs that include music, games, exercise, arts, and crafts. Activities are scheduled so that resident will have various options to choose from. And to have variety, a lifestyle assistant contacts outside recreation providers that include museums, movie theatres, entertainers, musicians, and more.

When running activities, lifestyle assistants explain the general rules of the activities and provide instructions to residents when needed. They are also in charge of organising and setting out the equipment. They ensure that participants will not be injured in any way, and they spend time with residents to help them become more active. When necessary they will change an activity in order to suit one’s capabilities.

Lifestyle assistants must be constantly updating one’s wisdom and knowledge about various activities. One must know the trends of the profession as well. This can be done by doing research, attending seminars, taking postgraduate training, and reading books.

If you are looking for activities for lifestyle assistants, then check out the various activity ideas below. Our website is a one stop shop for all the lifestyle assistant needs. We provide a wide range of activities that include the Calendar, games and trivia, and arts, crafts and hobbies. And if you have some ideas to share, we would be more than happy to hear from you!