Training Description:
Our population is aging. By 2060, there will be approximately 90 million people living in the United States over the age of 65 and people of color will comprise close to half of these older adults. Regardless of the setting, most mental health providers will be treating older adults. This series of older adults is broken into 3 parts: Cognitive health and resilience, cognitive impairment and safety, and common psychiatric issues in older adults. We will discuss healthy aging and cognitive resilience strategies, including tips for aging well. We will then discuss cognitive impairment and dementia including initial evaluation, screening, and common safety issues. Lastly, we will discuss some common psychiatric disorders in older adults.
The goal of this training is to increase the abilities of crisis care teams and behavioral health clinicians to recognize mental health conditions in older adults, how presentations/treatment differs from other populations, and to consider the unique needs related to caring for these patients for behavioral and emotional concerns and during behavioral health crises. The presenter will also highlight the importance of understanding cognitive impairment/dementia and how that can affect presentation and safety.