"People are living longer, have more opportunities, are more active and have a lot more knowledge of healthy lifestyles these days," she said.
Ms Bennett (66), who retired late last month from the Dunedin-based role of Age Concern Otago Elder Abuse Response Service senior social worker, began her work with Age Concern in 1990, in the role of Visiting Service co-ordinator.
While in the role, she started taking on field work and advocacy for older people experiencing issues with financial matters and housing, prompting then Age Concern Otago chief executive Dave Henry to ask her to provide education to the community about elder abuse.
"At that time, nobody much knew about elder abuse in Dunedin, and we thought that if people were educated about it, then they wouldn’t do it any more," Ms Bennett said.
"But what actually happened was, the more people became educated about elder abuse, the more they spoke out about it.
"We learned that elder abuse had always been there, but that with education, the floodgates opened on people reporting it — and those numbers have continued to rise."
During the following years, with the encouragement of then Age Concern Otago chief executive Susan Davidson, Ms Bennett trained as a social worker and established the Elder Abuse Response Service. She has been in the role for 12 years.
"That training gave me a vital insight into the factors underlying the behaviours that make up elder abuse, and a knowledge of the wider picture in the community.
"My mantra in working with other organisations has always been ‘don’t forget about the older person’ within a family unit — sometimes they are the strength that keeps the family together."
In the past year, Ms Bennett said the service had dealt with 170 cases of elder abuse in Dunedin — the most prevalent issues being psychological and financial abuse, a growing problem in the current cost-of-living and housing crises.
"Older people experience intimidation, guilt and pressure to help their children and grandchildren financially," she said.
"A big change over the years has been the number of self-referrals — increasingly people have been brave enough to step up and say they don’t want to have to live like this.
"Over the years, I have seen some sad situations which stick in the mind — mainly they have involved older people who just want the abusive behaviour to stop."
For many years, the Age Concern Otago Elder Abuse Response Service has been part of the police-led Whangaia Nga Pa Harakeke family harm service, which brings together agencies working in the family harm and family violence space.
Anyone over the age of 65 years experiencing family harm comes under the purview of the Elder Abuse Response Service — a busy workload that has seen the service expand to two social workers.
Through the family farm service and the multi-disciplinary Elder Abuse Advisory Panel, there was a constant sharing of information between agencies, Ms Bennett said.
After 30-plus years with Age Concern Otago, and having worked under six chief executives, including current CEO Penelope Pask, Ms Bennett says she will miss the work and the people she has come to know, both fellow staff and clients.
"I have met some amazing people, and feel lucky to have been involved in this important work — it has been an interesting ride," she said.
Now that she has retired, Ms Bennett plans to take some time for herself, before embarking on training to become a clinical supervisor for social workers — something she can do from home and on a part-time basis.
She also intends to continue with other interests, including as a trustee of the Otago Welfare Guardian Trust.
"I am also going to buy some shoes and go out walking," she said.
