The Later Life Training Project

FREE in-service learning for your teams designed by Later Life Training

Later Life Training (LLT) are a not for profit organisation established in 2003 who deliver education and training across the UK (and wider) promoting independence and wellbeing in later life.

Since 2003 over 15000 health, leisure, and care professionals and volunteers have attended training ranging from evidence based exercise to reduce falls (FaME/Otago), Care to Move (increasing movement opportunities), Motivate Me (supporting behaviour change), and 1st Steps in Dementia (increasing physical activity).

Later Life Training Logo

What is this all about?

Later Life Training have designed a series of fit for purpose, achievable Learning Action Agendas for team leads who would like the opportunity to increase learning, consistency and more standardised approaches to supporting behaviour changes relating to home exercise, physical activity and moving more.

Bex Townley, Later Life Training, will be launching this project and offering insight into the FOUR FREE learning action agendas at Active Cumbria’s Continuing the Movement for Active Ageing event taking place on 26 February 2025.

Team leads interested in taking up this novel offer can register for an online onboarding meet with Bex to talk through the detail of the action agendas for you to facilitate over the 4-month period from April - July 2025.

Registration opens after the event on 26 February.

A photo of Bex Townley - she is smiling at the camera

Bex Townley is an Activity and Health Practitioner (CIMSPA) who has been in the business of movement, exercise and fitness since 1988. Her work to date spans projects/employment consulting and partnership working with NHS, Adult Social Care, Leisure and Voluntary Organisations. 

Bex has broad experience in delivering exercise as part of agreed clinical pathways i.e., cardiac rehab, pulmonary rehab, stroke, young adults living with neurological conditions, older adults living with frailty and risk of falls and has worked for Later Life Training since 2009, travelling the length and breadth of the UK and wider delivering training to NHS, care, leisure teams. In addition, she is involved in quality assurance and research projects and in supporting service leads, commissioners in their development of best practice exercise provision for older people. Further context and a celebration of some of her work  can be found here.

Why sign up for this novel learning journey?

  • The ’Learning Action Agendas’ are designed to fit in with busy workloads/used as part of your usual team meetings.
  • The  learning action agendas are 20-30 minute conversations (and tasks to try as part of usual practice) 
  • 'If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we keep getting what we’ve always got’, which in many cases is poor uptake with home exercise, physical activity and moving more (reduce sedentary behaviour).

Who can get involved?

  • Any teams who support older people to; exercise at home as part of therapy led treatment plans, increase physical activity/leisure-based programmes, move more across their days (care settings, befriending services, volunteer organisations)
  • Any team lead who is availability to attend the launch event and online briefing for the project/resources
  • Any team lead who currently facilitate monthly/weekly team meetings and has capacity to engage whole teams with the learning tasks and objectives
  • Team Leads and teams agreeing to participate in vital online evaluation and feedback.

Registration is now closed. 

Watch the presentation from Bex Townley at our Live Longer Better in Cumbria Continuing the Movement for Active Ageing Conference (February 2025).

Bex presented a call to action to shift narratives, stereotypes and the professional practice around having meaningful conversations about physical activity and exercise for older people. She described how inaccurate, incomplete messaging about physical activity, sedentary behaviour and exercise are creating missed opportunities for teams to achieve even better/possible outcomes for older people. Bex posed the question “What might a more consistent, evidence-informed, standardised approach across whole teams’ achieve? Could it lead to sufficient exercise doses to reduce falls, get people off to a good start with home exercise/movement plans, increase physical literacy for workforce and the people they support? These wins are what we are all looking for.”