CADER and the City of Salem Partner to Increase Awareness of Behavioral Health in Older Adults

According to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), within the past year, 1 in 8 older adults had a mental illness and 1 in 11 had a substance use disorder. The Center for Aging & Disability Education & Research (CADER) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) and the City of Salem have partnered to implement a three-component program to raise awareness about behavioral health issues in aging populations, reduce stigma, and prepare older adults to care for their own well-being.  

Developed by Bronwyn Keefe, director of CADER and The Network at BUSSW, Annalee Wilson, CADER evaluation and workforce training manager, and Megan Nizza (BUSSW PhD’27), the program’s goal is to educate the Salem community and to build skills to address these issues. 

For the first component, the program team developed and disseminated a community-wide media campaign in multiple languages to the Salem community to combat stigma and share information about behavioral health issues in older adults. Flyers on topics including social isolation, substance use, and mental wellness were distributed to housing communities, health care sites, libraries, community spaces, and through Salem for All Ages social media channels.   

The program’s second component features four public workshops for older adults in Salem, three of which are led by trainers from The Network’s Trainers Hub, focused on mental wellness, coping with loss and change, social connectedness, and substance use. Participants will build the skills needed to manage their own behavioral health and wellness concerns and gain practical tools to support others who may be struggling.  

In the third component of the program, Salem professionals, including senior center staff, health care providers, and city employees, will complete CADER’s five-course Behavioral Health in Aging certificate.  Through this training program, Salem professionals will build skills to better identify and respond to behavioral health concerns among older adults. 

At the end of the program, CADER’s research team will evaluate the impact of this community-wide educational effort and develop recommendations for how the City of Salem can continue to support older adult behavioral health. 

Learn more about CADER’s Behavioral Health in Aging Certificate.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Mennerich via Flickr under Creative Commons License Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND 2.0)