Creating New Performances of Growing Older: A Short-Term Group led by Helen Abel and Nicola Pauling

Helen Abel and Nicola Pauling invite you to play with the experience of ageing, to explore and reshape how we relate to being older and being seen as older. Together, we’ll discover creative ways to respond to physical changes and illness, to give and receive care, and to honour our right to lifelong development.

Helen and Nicola draw on their expertise in creating environments for growth and meaningful conversations. This group is open to anyone interested in shifting the experience of aging from one marked by loss, fear, and stigma to one rooted in joy, connection, and growth.

Leader Biographies

Helen Abel is a life performance coach on staff at Life Performance Coaching who has practiced and helped develop the social therapeutic approach to human development. She is a founding member of Reimagining Dementia: A Creative Coalition for Justice and has been co-leading short term groups which focus on creating new performances of aging for the last 6 years.  She loves helping people of all ages create new ways of dealing with the challenges of everyday living and believes she can most effectively help people develop by supporting them to use their capacity to create, perform, and play. She lives in Richmond, California.

Nicola Pauling is a development specialist who brings her expertise in acting, improvisation, and directing beyond the theatre into everyday life. In her twenty years of practice, Nicola has witnessed the significant cognitive, social and emotional benefits gained when people are encouraged to explore their performative nature – creating space for joy, learning, personal and professional growth. Nicola's work centres on empowering older adults to continuously discover and develop. Her practice emphasises exploration rather than scripted presentation, there are no audiences, no lines to learn, just the freedom to play, and co-creation with others. Nicola is based in Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.