Healthy aging programs help older adults, in their 60s or older, live healthier, more active lifestyles. A healthy aging program will cover topics such as nutrition, stress management, chronic diseases, infectious diseases and English for Speakers of Other Languages.
In addition, the healthy aging program also has a health screening component, providing clinics that screen for common health problems in older adults.
Screenings include high blood pressure, physical exams, hearing exams, osteoporosis, medication evaluations, cancer, diabetes, podiatry, influenza and pneumonia immunizations, as well as other related services.
If potential problems are suspected or detected, referrals are made to a physician.
The Biology of Healthy Aging is a research program founded in 2006, aimed at facilitating the development of biological and translational research around frailty and late-life decline. As a long-term goal, this program aims to identify molecular etiologies that make older individuals more vulnerable to chronic disease states and functional decline.
As these etiologies are identified, members of the program develop clinical translational interventions to improve the quality of life for all older adults. Faculty members of this group have interests that overlap in immunology, skeletal muscle decline, mitochondria biology, anemia or inflammation, and the renin-angiotensin system.
The Biology of Healthy Aging is a highly integrated program that uses state-of-the-art molecular physiological and clinical approaches, as well as collaborative development to answer essential questions related to the biology of late-life decline.
Involved program investigators and major themes of research within these healthy aging programs include anemia in older adults, immune senescene, chronic inflammation and late life decline, mitochondrial biology – the cell’s powerhouse, genetic determinants of aging phenotypes, muscle and bone biology in frailty, and the aging renin angiotensin system.
Healthy aging programs also include the Aging Services division, which supports seniors in making healthy lifestyle choices and provides them with wellness resources, counseling services and healthy aging magazines. In addition, the division also provides educational workshops on various issues, including safe medication use, coordinating exercise classes in rural and low-to-moderate income locales, as well as addressing gaps in services.
Throughout the year, seniors can also benefit from a variety of wellness courses, such as Stanford University’s Healthier Living: Managing Your Chronic Conditions; Safe Medication Education, a Matter of Balance (Address Fall Prevention and Fear of Falling); Emotional Wellness Workshops. Most workshops are taught in both Spanish and English.
Meanwhile, nutrition counseling addresses any older adult over the age of 60, as well as their caregivers. Nutritionists often meet clients in their homes, at centers for healthy aging or other places and they help seniors to choose the anti aging diets or best anti aging foods for men and women.This service is free of charge, but donations are always welcome.
Wise & Healthy Aging is a private, non-profit agency aiming to serve the physical, emotional and behavioral needs of seniors over 55 years of age. The Mental Health Services Department provides both group and individual psychotherapy, psychiatry, case management. If necessary, it also provides collateral and/or family therapy within an outpatient setting or within a field setting, through its Field Capable Clinical Services (FCCS) program.
People who choose the agency’s services display a variety of concerns, ranging from normative to pathological. These individuals typically experience symptoms related to mood disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders and thought disorders.
Other issues addressed throughout the course of treatment cover topics like aging, trauma, loss, identity, substance use, relational difficulties, grief and bereavement, conflict, isolation and loneliness.
Wise & Healthy Aging is focused on the multi-disciplinary training program which is comprised of pre-doctoral interns and post-doctoral fellows. In addition, they also offer a training program structured to provide interns with a solid combination of didactic and supervised, direct service experience designed to prepare them for independent practice of clinical psychology.
Interns are given the chance to practice long-term, insight oriented work. The agency’s philosophy aims to develop and refine clinical competencies with older adults, promoting the highest standards of practice through an emphasis on both personal and professional integrity.
The program reflects the integration of a culturally and ethically sensitive practice, incorporating a contextual philosophy of treating older adults. Once they complete the program, interns will have attained an improved skill set and compassion for working therapeutically with older adults, within an outpatient and field-based setting.
The training program is structured for completion within a part-time, 50-week year. Interns spend about half of that time providing direct service to clients within individual and group psychotherapy, 20 percent of the time in indirect services and the remaining 30 percent in didactic training, including professional seminars and individual and group supervision.
Interns can co-facilitate group psychotherapy in various group treatment options, including Healthy Strategies, Living Well (short-term therapy), Process Groups, Skills Building Group (Dialectal Behavioral Therapy Model) and Men’s Support Group.
The training program is designed to enhance, increase and evaluate clinical competency levels and professional growth, offering a structured, organized sequence of professional seminars led by professional staff and clinicians. Topics include Ethical and Legal Issues, Hoarding, Grief and Loss, Intimate Partner Violence, Group Psychotherapy, Object Relations, LGBT Senior Sensitivity Training, Personality Disorders, Psychotropic Medications with older adults, Suicide Assessment, Substance Use and Abuse with older adults, Therapeutic Frame and Boundaries, as well as various forms of abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, fiduciary, neglect etc.)
Seminars are held weekly on Wednesday afternoons, aiming to provide exposure and education in theoretical concepts while offering an opportunity to integrate both theory and practice.