From the CEO – June 2025

by Rachael Wass, CEO of Meaningful Ageing Australia

What would you consider to be your inner compass?

We speak often at an organisational level of values and missions. These make up the inner compass of the corporation. With new ACQS and rights-based Act approaching in November, now is the exact right time to be prepared to put those values into action.

Personally, I have a deeply felt sense of responsibility and commitment to values and purposes relating to the good of the whole.

One word that comes up time and again when considering the good of the whole is connection. Feeling connected. Feeling part of the whole in a way that is able to be understood and felt every day.

Perhaps it all comes back to our own individual sense of connection: to ourselves and to others. And we are more likely to feel gratitude when we are connected. For the employer and manager, that means authentic connection naturally leads to recognition of, and gratitude for, those who report to you.

Gratitude is a powerful component of your inner compass. It is a type of antidote to everyday anxiety, allowing feelings of grace, wellbeing and optimism to flow and clear the way for us to navigate obstacles and follow our path.

How do your senses guide you to connection and gratitude? That’s the question posed by this month’s feature article in our Professional newsletter.

May the core of your being be nurtured, (spirit be strong)

Rachael

What’s in my diary this month?

• Meet with international peak bodies including United States Spiritual Care Association
• Hosting x 2 online reflective practice for Spiritual Care Practitioners. Theme: Showing loyalty
• Present for Palliative Care Volunteering SA. on Spirituality, rituals and faith
• Participate and represent spiritual care at the next DoHaAC – Aged Quality Sector Reference group
• An invited speaker at Mental Health in Aged Care Conference in Melbourne on Nurturing the Spirit
• Represent spiritual care at Palliative Care Victoria’s Aged Care Special Interest Group meeting
• Attend Spiritual Care Australia’s National Conference in Bendigo and update for health networks
• Panel presentation on Intergenerational Intercultural Initiatives for Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing
• Attend the NACA StteerCo meeting as co-Chair of the First Nations Strategic Priority Workgroup

If you have feedback about our work at Meaningful Ageing Australia, I’m always delighted to hear from you. My contact details are rwass@meaningfulage.org.au or mobile 0481 044 467.