Connecting Seniors VIC is a community storytelling initiative designed to reduce loneliness and social isolation among older Australians in Victoria. Through professionally facilitated interviews, podcast conversations, and community based events, we create safe and welcoming spaces where seniors can share their life stories, wisdom, challenges, and reflections. Many older people experience isolation, particularly following retirement, ...
Kintsugi Heroes
Connecting Seniors
GOAL
$45,000
Australia > VIC > Metro and Regional
Field of Interest
- Community and economic development
- Health/wellbeing and medical research
Target Population
- Seniors (65+)
- General population
Kintsugi Heroes
Kintsugi Heroes is an Australian registered charity that uses lived experience storytelling to reduce loneliness and isolation, strengthen community connection, and restore dignity and agency to people who have experienced adversity.
Inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, we believe that the parts of our lives we are told to hide can become the source of strength, connection, and hope for others. Through podcasts, books, community events, and collaborative storytelling projects, we help people tell the stories they need to share and create meaningful personal connections across diverse communities.
We address growing social isolation, stigma, and disconnection by creating safe, trauma informed spaces where lived experience can be shared with care and consent. Independent letters of support from participants and partners consistently highlight the safety, professionalism, and ripple effects of our storytelling model, with stories often shared peer to peer within workplaces, community groups, and families.
Our priorities include giving back to the communities we serve, ensuring that people overcoming struggle and facing adversity have the opportunity to be heard, and expanding awareness through authentic storytelling. We believe that if a story impacts and touches even one person deeply, then it has meaning. Funding will support ethical content production, participant safeguarding, community engagement activities, and the organisational capacity needed to continue delivering safe, inclusive, and sustainable storytelling initiatives.
Project Summary
Connecting Seniors VIC is a community storytelling initiative designed to reduce loneliness and social isolation among older Australians in Victoria.
Through professionally facilitated interviews, podcast conversations, and community based events, we create safe and welcoming spaces where seniors can share their life stories, wisdom, challenges, and reflections. Many older people experience isolation, particularly following retirement, illness, bereavement, or major life transitions. Yet they hold extraordinary lived experience that deserves to be heard, valued, and preserved.
This project will record and publish senior stories through accessible audio and community formats, helping participants feel seen, heard, and connected. It will also provide opportunities for families, carers, and the broader community to engage with these stories, strengthening intergenerational understanding and social connection.
Independent feedback from previous Connecting Seniors initiatives has shown that storytelling can create meaningful personal connections, spark ongoing conversations, and restore a sense of purpose and pride for participants. Stories are often shared beyond the initial audience, reaching community groups, workplaces, and families.
Funding will support ethical content production, participant support, venue and community engagement costs, and the coordination required to sustainably deliver the program across Victoria.
If even one senior feels less alone, or one listener feels more connected to the older people in their life, then the project is doing its work.
Project Outcomes
The primary outcome of Connecting Seniors VIC is to reduce loneliness and strengthen community connection for older Australians by creating safe opportunities for lived experience storytelling.
We aim for participating seniors to feel heard, valued, and more socially connected as a result of sharing their stories. Many older people experience invisibility or reduced social engagement following retirement, health changes, or personal loss. By providing a respectful and professionally facilitated platform for storytelling, we seek to restore dignity, agency, and a renewed sense of purpose.
We also aim to increase understanding and empathy within the broader community. By publishing and sharing these stories through accessible audio and community formats, we encourage families, carers, and listeners to engage more deeply with the experiences of older people, strengthening intergenerational connection.
We will measure success through the number of senior participants engaged, stories recorded and published, community events delivered, and audience reach across our platforms. We will also gather participant feedback to understand whether individuals felt safe, respected, and positively impacted by the experience.
Success will ultimately be reflected in qualitative outcomes such as increased confidence, renewed social engagement, and stories being shared within families and community networks. If participants report feeling less alone and listeners report feeling more connected, we will know the project is achieving its purpose.
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $75,000
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Kintsugi Heroes organisational contribution and in kind support | $20,000 |
| Community fundraising and event income | $10,000 |
| Funding gap | $45,000 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Program coordination and delivery | $28,000 |
| Audio production and editing | $15,000 |
| Community events and venue costs | $12,000 |
| Regional travel and outreach | $8,000 |
| Volunteer coordination and participant support | $6,000 |
| Marketing and community engagement | $6,000 |
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