IGSW and CalSWEC Training Will Improve Elder Mental Health Services

 Through a partnership, the Institute for Geriatric Social Work (JGSW) of Boston University School of Social Work will join with the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC), a state consortium, to provide training in mental health aspects of aging to social work professionals in three areas of California.

The training is crucial, according to IGSW director Scott Miyake Geron, because the unprecedented burgeoning of the older population has led to a shortage of practitioners skilled in provision of mental health services for older people.  Dr. Geron states, “Serious treatable mental health and substance abuse problems have gone untreated, either because they have failed to be identified or because they have been misdiagnosed. The lack of adequately trained mental health professionals in aging contributes to needless suffering and unnecessary costs to individuals, families, and society.”

As part of the partnership, participants in agencies throughout California will receive twenty-one hours of online training in aging and mental health and a continuing education certificate in aging from IGSW. Included will be an intensive orientation to IGSW online training, assistance in enrolling and registering for the program, and detailed evaluation and progress reports. CalSWEC is providing the funding and administrative support for this effort.

IGSW provides workforce training in aging in all states and in most types of behavioral health settings.The Institute for Geriatric Social Work (IGSW) at Boston University is dedicated to advancing social work practice with older adults and their families.  IGSW was established in 2002 through a grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies (USA), Inc. to improve the quality and increase the availability of gerontological social work practice by helping social workers meet the challenges presented by the diverse and growing aging population.

For more information on IGSW, please visit their website at https://www.bu.edu/ssw/igsw/