miércoles, 26 de junio de 2019

National Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day 2019

On Monday, May 20, 2019, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) hosted National Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day 2019 at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, DC. Along with SAMHSA, the Administration for Community Living served as a federal co-sponsor, with the National Coalition on Mental Health and Aging as a non-federal co-sponsor.

The Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, Elinore McCance-Katz, MD, PhD and the Assistant Secretary for Aging, Lance Robertson, provided opening remarks followed by presentations on the focus areas. The event focused on prevention, treatment, and recovery services for older adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders; suicide prevention efforts with older adults; older adult peer support services; serving older veterans; and trauma-informed care for older adults. The event closed with a panel discussion with the speakers and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-affiliate members offering personal stories and practical advice to assist older adults on a path to recovery.

The event was SAMHSA’s 2^nd annual observance of Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day. The overall goals of this year’s observance were to:

Highlight the need for prevention, treatment, and recovery practices for America’s growing older adult population, including older veterans;
Showcase evidence-based best practices in the field of older adult mental health and substance use treatment;
Highlight effective suicide prevention and trauma-informed care practices for older adults; and
Show how states can provide effective services for older adults, including the development of older adult peer support services.

Watch the on-demand webcast of SAMHSA’s event to learn about prevention, treatment, and recovery supports for older adults: