Week 11 Discussion 1

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“Perspectives: The Golden Years” Program Transcript

As you've been learning in this course, we go through various life stages throughout our lives, and the last stage that we enter is known as the elderly stage, the older adult stage, or from Erikson's perspective, developmentally, is the integrity versus ego despair stage. And technically, we reference people who are 65 and above as being part of this older developmental stage.

I've had the privilege of working with a number of aging adults. We know that right now about one in six adults in the US is age 60 or older, which means this is a population in need of our help and support. In fact, while people who are aged 60 and older are growing, the population of people available to support them is actually diminishing.

In my experience, I've been able to work with folks who have been dealing with end of life issues, meaning they had a terminal illness and were facing an imminent death. I've worked with individuals who were in long term care. I've worked with individuals who have faced retirement and beyond and found a loss of purpose or a sense of needing to find a new avenue for their lives.

In the integrity versus ego despair area of life, for example, to use the Erikson's model, we know that people are trying to find their place, purpose, and meaning in life. They are passed their childbearing years. They're passed their employment years, and they're really trying to find a sense of who they are and the legacy that they'll leave. One of the techniques or interventions that you can use with this population is a life review to help them explore, collect, and artifact their memories of their life to place these artifacts in a sense of meaning and perspective that they might even share with their children and grandchildren along the way.

Family can be both very supportive and very challenging to the aging client. As a counselor, it's your job to remember who your client is. If your client is the aging individual, that is who you will advocate for and with, and you want to involve them in his decision making process as much as possible.

For this particular stage, the aging population, what you really want to focus on is the fact that these are individuals who've led a long and productive life. They do have value and meaning and they have a lot to teach you. It's important to recognize that while they may be in physical or cognitive decline, the spirit of the active and engaged adult is still present. And when you can connect with that spirit, you can find a place to work with your client.

When you begin your training as a counselor, one of the aspects that you're asked to look at here in your Walden program are your personal characteristics.

What makes you a good and effective counselor? And what are some things that might get in the way of being a good and effective counselor?

I know, for me, I had a passion for being with people and helping to understand where they were. And I also felt a lot of compassion for some that others had difficulty finding compassion for. People with serious mental illness, the aging population, people in decline in their life. For you, I hope that you'll find those parts of your personality that best meet the needs of your clients and are able to build upon them as you become a professional counselor.