As the baby boomer generation continues to get older, the proportion of older adults in the United States is increasing, now comprising more the twenty percent of the overall population. By 2023, twenty-three percent of Massachusetts residents will be age 65 or older. Despite their considerable emotional resilience, mental health and substance use remain a significant public health problem among older adults. Factors such as social isolation, grief from losing loved ones, and age-related health issues contribute to the onset of mental health and substance use conditions. Additionally, older adults may face unique challenges to accessing prevention, early intervention, evidence-based, and recovery services due to financial constraints, transportation issues, cultural differences, difficulties navigating the healthcare system, and more.
Government and legislative leaders, provider agencies, older adults with mental health conditions and their families, and many others are working together to advance the health and well being of older adults with mental health and substance use conditions. They are committed to strengthening the capacities of entities serving older adults to engage in prevention efforts, better identify signs and symptoms of behavioral health conditions, and collaborate with public and private behavioral health providers to connect individuals to the care they need.
Initiatives to integrate aging services and behavioral health care in the Commonwealth and to develop a front line workforce which is knowledgeable about, and prepared to adequately respond to, mental health and substance use conditions experienced by older adults are currently underway, but there is much work to be done.
