Initiative #3
Everybody Grows Older: Why Mental Health Professionals Need Foundational Competence in Elder Mental Health
The United States is experiencing a profound demographic shift. By 2030, one in five Americans will be age 65 or older, yet many behavioral health professionals receive little formal training in aging-related mental health and substance misuse concerns. As a result, older adults often encounter providers who feel unprepared to assess and address issues such as depression, anxiety, suicide risk, substance misuse, grief, social isolation, trauma, and the behavioral health impacts of chronic illness and cognitive change.
This initiative is based on a simple but transformative premise: older adult mental health should be viewed the same way we view cultural competence, trauma-informed care, or suicide prevention—not as a specialty skill reserved for a few practitioners, but as a foundational competency expected across the behavioral health workforce.
Historically, efforts to address older adult behavioral health have focused on increasing the number of geriatric specialists. While specialists remain essential, this approach alone cannot meet the needs of a rapidly growing aging population. The innovation of this initiative is its shift from a specialist-centered model to a workforce-readiness model. Rather than asking how to create more specialists, it asks how to ensure that all behavioral health professionals possess core competencies for working effectively with older adults.
The initiative highlights a critical and often overlooked challenge: signs of mental health and substance misuse conditions in older adults are frequently mistaken for normal aging. Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, sleep disturbances, grief, memory concerns, or alcohol misuse may go unrecognized or untreated because they are incorrectly assumed to be expected parts of growing older. Increasing workforce competency can improve early identification, intervention, referral, and treatment outcomes.
Drawing on workforce development, behavioral health, aging services, and continuing education, the initiative advocates for integrating aging-related competencies into professional education, training, supervision, and organizational practice. This population-based approach is scalable, practical, and applicable across a wide range of behavioral health settings.
Ultimately, the initiative seeks to reframe aging as a core behavioral health issue that affects every community, every healthcare system, and every mental health professional. By preparing the workforce to meet the behavioral health needs of older adults, we can improve access to care, reduce disparities, strengthen prevention efforts, and build a more age-inclusive behavioral health system.
Because everybody grows older, every behavioral health professional should be prepared to support mental health and well-being across the lifespan.
Call to Action
1. I represent an organization that may be willing to contribute funding.
2. I am a manager with a clinical group or professional service organization and would like to have a pilot training within my organization.
3. I am in administration with a university, college, professional training program and am willing to champion this effort.
4. I work in state agencies (DOH, HCA, DSHS) around education, training, and licensure requirements for clinicians and/or professional service providers and would like to incorporate this effort into our state requirements.
5. I am a leader of a professional organization and would like to help promote this effort.
6. I am a subject matter expert and can aid in development and/or delivery of curriculum.
7. I have instructional design experience and would like to be part of the development team.
8. I have experience in workforce training, evaluation, and quality improvement and would like to be part of the development team.
9. I have a technology background and can help with technical/online strategies.
Initiative Leaders
Alison Laird Craig
Program Manager
Elder Education Institute at Sound Generations
