Everyone has something to share

Publish date: 2 November 2026

Ask Therapy Assistant Leeann what belonging looks like, and she’ll tell you about four apple pies, a chair decorated with balloons, and a family pressed up against a window, waving.  

A resident at Bethanie Joondanna had talked for years about reaching 100. Apple pie was his favourite, and baking one was on his bucket list. So that’s where Leeann started. She brought residents into the kitchen where they baked using her mother’s recipe, the birthday man delighted to be working alongside them. 

Still in COVID lock-down, Leeann organised a family walk-by — one by one they filed past the window while he sat inside on his balloon-covered chair, and the afternoon filled with singing and waving with people dancing on the other side of the glass. 

Three weeks later, he passed away. 

“He’d always said he only wanted to live to 100,” she recalled. “Once he reached it, he felt ready. He’d done what he wanted to.” 

Leeann came to Bethanie after a career spent painting tiles and glassware. It was watching her own father-in-law grow older, and seeing his vulnerability, that inspired her to change direction. 

Now her days are spent finding reasons for people to come together — a trip to Bunnings, chair tennis, a paint ’n’ sip, or one of her show-and-tell sessions, where residents bring something from their room and tell the story behind it. A photograph. A piece of jewellery. An old recipe book. 

“It’s a lovely way for people to get to know each other and connect,” she said, “especially someone just moving in.” 

It’s never really been about the activities, though. It’s about bringing people together. 

“Residents have so much to share with us. What you get from the older generation — it’s amazing.”