COTA NSW Community Speakers

Our community speakers are ready to visit (or zoom!) your group

Our trained community speakers can provide talks on a range of topics (see below) for your group in-person or online.

We aim to help older people to make good decisions based on clear information. We know that people don’t like to be lectured, so we make sure that our talks are informal, interactive and entertaining for the people who attend. With one of our community speakers, you will hear about topics that relate to you and the rest of your group in everyday language.

If you would like a speaker to come to your group (or provide a talk by Zoom), please fill in this form or get in touch and we’ll be only too happy to discuss your requirements.

We will be holding more training for Community Speakers in 2023 – please email community.speakers@cotansw.com.au if you are interested.

Preventing energy hardship
This talk was developed in conjunction with Energy Consumers Australia and covers energy provision, how to reduce energy costs and how to negotiate better deals with energy providers. Takes  about 60 minutes, including time for questions and discussion.

Planning ahead
This talk is part of our Legal Pathways program and covers when and how to talk about the end of your life, palliative care, and the importance of planning ahead documents such as Wills, Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Attorney, Enduring Guardianship and Advance Care Directives. Takes about 40 minutes, including time for questions and discussion.

Funerals the way you want them
How to have a funeral that commemorates the departed person in the best possible way, and doesn’t cause a financial shock. Covers the stages of the process, options you may not be aware of, costs and how to cover them, and grief support. Takes about 40 minutes, including time for questions and discussion.

Ageing well
We know we’d all like to find the elixir of youth – sadly we don’t have that, but we do have the Ageing Well presentation. This presentation focuses on the evidence-based things we can do to stay fit and healthy for as long as possible. This isn’t medical advice, but it will give you good starting information, and some tips on where to go from there. Takes about 45 minutes, including time for questions and discussion.

Navigating aged care
This session aims to provide community members with an understanding of the types of subsidised supports available for people as they age, to assist them to live independently at home or moving to an aged care home. It also covers assessment processes and seeking help. (This talk can also be provided in Cantonese and Mandarin.)

Navigating home care packages
This session focusses specifically on home care packages explaining the steps in gaining a package, the costs, tips for finding a service provider, and self-managing your package.

Using the My Aged Care website
This practical session demonstrates using the My Aged Care website to find information and answers to your questions. It also demonstrates the use of tools including “Find a provider”, “Fee estimator” and “Applying for an online assessment”, and how to check for compliance issues.

The challenge of downsizing
The pros and cons of downsizing your home, how to approach de-cluttering and reducing your number of possessions, and issues to consider when selecting and buying or renting a new property.

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Our trained community speakers provide talks on a range of topics


Energy, planning, funerals, ageing well, aged care, home care, downsizing, and more.