Old-Age Adults Need Social Workers, Too!

After attending a seminar on working with older adults, I was appalled to learn about the lack of services available for older adults. Although there a few programs that employee social workers, mainly hospice and hospitals, many people are reluctant to work with such a population since older adults are more likely to be resistant and difficult to help change. Even more frustrating, there is a lack of federal and local funding made available for older adults seeking mental health services.

However, there is work to be done with this population given the increase in the number of older adults (baby boomers are growing old). An alarming number of older adults suffer from depression, delusions and hallucinations (late onset of schizophrenia), Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other forms of psychopathology. Most notably, older adults are at a HIGH risk for suicide.

While working with school age children is my passion, I have left room in my career bank to work with the older adult population. Based on my past experience working as the social services director at a skilled nursing facility, I sensed first hand the dire need for social workers (educated and qualified) to provide person-in-environment level interventions for such a vulnerable population. How rewarding is it to help someone to live in their final days contentedly.