12 May 2025

Ten years ago, the Gunnedah Shire Library was approached with the idea of running sessions to exercise the brain through puzzles and games - and Brain Training was born!

The program, originally proposed by Jenni Carlin who worked for GoCo at the time, has gone on to win awards including: the 2016 Voice of the Customer Award for Outstanding Performance to the Brain Training Team; short-listed for NSW Local Government Excellence Awards in 2016; and Highly Commended in the Local Government Excellence Awards in 2020.
The program has also been adopted at libraries, nursing homes and retirement villages across Australia.

Gunnedah Shire Council Librarian Christiane Birkett said the library was celebrating the 10th anniversary of Brain Training in May with a presentation to the people who have been training their brains at the Library for a decade!

“There are many proven benefits of brain training – it keeps you problem-solving, keeps you thinking, it’s a social activity, and it is great fun,” Mrs Birkett said.

“We are really proud to have pioneered this program in conjunction with GoCo, and are happy to be celebrating a whole decade of Brain Training.

“We thank the many, many people who have joined us for sessions during those 10 years, including the people who have been with us from the first day. It has been a true success story for the Gunnedah Shire Library and the Gunnedah community.”

A total of about 50 people a week currently take part in sessions that are held at Gunnedah Shire Library, Oak Tree Retirement Village, Lundie House and Alkira. It is also delivered to some house-bound participants.

Over the decade, Gunnedah Shire Library has presented workshops and talks about Brain Training and staff from other facilities have visited Gunnedah to “shadow” a session with a view to implementing it themselves.

The program is adapted for different purposes, but includes brain activities such as visual, non-dominant hand activity that assists with fine motor skills, creativity, memory, vocabulary, word association, number skills, concentration, number skills, general knowledge, teamwork, brain health, cyber safety, logic, pattern recognition, physical health, mental health. Activities include puzzles such as mazes, join-the-dots, find-the-objects, word games, number pyramids, colouring-in with the non-dominant hand, trivia questions, spot-the-difference, and more.

Once a month, the sessions feature Senior Engagement Talks with a guest speaker presenting on issues of special interest to seniors such as Meals on Wheels, Fire Safety, winter health, dealing with ageing and grief, documentation necessary as people get older such as power of attorney, enduring health care, etc. This activity was awarded the 2024 Innovations in Outreach Services Award through the NSW Public Libraries Association.

Captions:

(From left) Jenni Carlin, Librarian Christiane Birkett, Marg Harwood, Mayor Colleen Fuller, Jean Clark, Jude Appleyard, Fiona Mac Dougall, Annette Marshall and (front) Library staff Fiona Sills and Gina Torrens celebrate 10 years of Brain Training with certificates presented to those who have been attending for 10 years.

ENDS

Media and communications team contact: (02) 6740 2100 or communications@gunnedah.nsw.gov.au