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Behavioral Health
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Overview
Behavioral health is a state of mental and emotional well-being and/or choices and actions that affect wellness. Behavioral health problems—such as depression, substance abuse and misuse, and suicidal thoughts—are not a normal part of aging, yet these issues impact many Older Americans.
Through aging, behavioral health, and disability network partnerships, AoA offers programs and resources to help older adults, persons with disabilities, and their family caregivers maintain their health and well-being, including programs intended to:
- maintain and enhance emotional health;
- prevent substance abuse/misuse;
- and prevent suicide.
Solutions
States are enhancing the ability of their systems to educate, identify, refer, and provide appropriate services/interventions for older adults, persons with disabilities, and caregivers with or at risk for behavioral health problems. A variety of funding sources are supporting these efforts, including the Evidence-Based Disease Prevention Program, the Older Americans Act Titles III-D, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act initiatives, and other flexible and targeted funding streams. Partnering with state and local agencies that have an interest and/or expertise in behavioral health services may be another way to provide and sustain services that support optimal health.
The Aging Network has implemented several behavioral health programs, including:
- Healthy IDEAS, an evidence-based program that integrates depression awareness and management into existing case management services provided to older adults.
- PEARLS, an evidence-based method designed to reduce depressive symptoms and improve quality of life in older adults. PEARLS is currently a Medicaid Waiver service in Washington State.
- HomeMeds, an evidence-based program specifically designed to enable social workers and nurse care managers to identify and resolve certain medication problems common among frail elders living in the community.
- ElderVention, a program designed to help older adults achieve and maintain a healthy emotional life.
- The Brief Intervention and Treatment for Elders (BRITE)• The Brief Intervention and Treatment for Elders (BRITE), a project to help individuals 55 years and older identify their non-dependent substance use or prescription medication issues and to provide effective service strategies prior to their need for more extensive or specialized substance abuse treatment.
- Reaching and Engaging Older Adults (Recordings)
- Financing and Sustaining Behavioral health Interventions (Recordings)
Resources
The Older Americans Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center supports a partnership between the Administration on Aging, now a part of the U.S. Administration for Community Living, and the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. This partnership supports the coordination of behavioral health services for older adults through state and community partnerships. This effort is providing learning opportunities and developing materials to help states and communities improve the behavioral-health capability of their respective networks.
The following list of resources is updated on a regular basis, so please check back periodically.
Webinars
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Issue Briefs
State Behavioral Health Profiles
Additional state profiles will be posted as they become available.
Factsheet
The AoA Behavioral Health Resource sheet (PDF) provides links to:
- additional resources (toolkits, factsheets, data); and
- national, state, and local organizations.
| Last Modified: 2/8/2013 3:13:49 PM |
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