Lee Kehoe

As counselors, we encounter challenges not only on a daily basis, but often from moment to moment as we work with our clients on issues that disrupt the client’s entire life – sometimes even shake their sense of self. While each symptom or issue is weighed differently within the lives of clients, the issue of death and dying seems to weigh heavily universally with those dealing with death or dying.

Over the summer, I had the opportunity of co-facilitating a program for older adults in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias and their caregivers. In addition, I have been facilitating a support group for just caregivers, and over the course of the summer have learned a great deal about the challenges caregivers of older adults face in regards to mental health and wellness. Furthermore, as my caseload grows as a mental health counselor working with older adults, I have had a growing number of experiences engaging with families and caregivers.

When I began my internship for my graduate program, almost two years ago, with a company working within assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, I was excited to immerse myself in counseling older adults. My experiences throughout my internship working with older adults afforded me invaluable opportunities to learn and cultivate my passion for older adults. A great deal of my focus in my own research and writing revolved around the older adult population, and this blog has been driven by my experiences with my older adult clients

Over the course of my internship and now working as a professional counselor within a long term care and skilled nursing setting, I have been learning many strategies for navigating within a larger system. Furthermore, I have found there to be a great deal of need for mental health services; a need that requires mental health counselors within such a system to act as an advocate for our profession.

It is interesting that whenever someone asks me what population I work with, and I mention older adults, in my experiences the first thing many people then ask about has something to do with memory loss or dementia. It seems as though there is a widespread association between older individuals and memory loss. I have also encountered individuals who often assume that all of my clients have Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, in my experiences many people seem to then conclude that individuals with such memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia could not benefit from counseling.