• Seniors have so much to continue contributing to our society.
  • Seniors deserve to receive respect, care and to be treated with dignity.
  • Aging and the myriad issues it brings can make seniors vulnerable to mental and emotional conditions.
  • These conditions often are overlooked or dismissed as part of the aging process.
  • Senior health care providers often do not recognize symptoms of anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions so they go undiagnosed and untreated.
  • Untreated mental health conditions can worsen and also can exacerbate physical illness.
  • Caregivers, too, need skilled psychotherapists to help with the many mental and emotional challenges caregiving presents.
  • Since 1900, the senior population has steadily been increasing and people are living longer.
  • Currently, the population of women and men age 65 and older is 12.5 percent of the approximant 300,000,000 people in the United States. This is one in every eight people.
  • Between 2010 and 2030, the senior population will grow to 20 percent of the projected 349,993,000 people in the United States. That means one in every five people will be 65 years old and older!
  • The aging process, like each stage in the cycle of life, brings a myriad of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual stressors that can cause or exacerbate an existing mental health condition or physical illness.
  • Aging makes the body and mind less resilient and more vulnerable to the effects of life’s stresses.
  • As people become less independent, less mobile and need to rely upon others to assist with activities of daily living, an important buffer of support is a relatively strong sense of self worth.
  • Currently, it is estimated that a minimum of 10 million seniors suffer with anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions.
  • Compromised mental, emotional and physical health conditions require attention from mental health and medical professionals.
  • Maintaining and possibly improving mental and physical health conditions affects people’s quality of life and can restore an overall sense of well being. When the sense of self is intact, the many challenges that life presents can become more manageable. This seems especially true for people as we age.
  • Having qualified dependable health care professionals in the lives of people as they age can improve their quality of life and well being.
  • There is a tremendous need for many more skilled, Licensed Clinical Social Workers to provide critically needed mental health services to our senior population.