Geriatric Community Outreach Program
University Behavioral HealthCare’s Geriatric Community
Outreach Program can best be described as involving a combination
of individual, family, and systems advocacy efforts undertaken
on behalf of elderly adults and their families. The overall goal
of the program is to increase access to mental health care for
the elderly by providing community-based interventions and case
management. Staff of the Community Outreach Program bring
resources into the community and provide liaison between the older
adult and formal health care systems (including, but not limited
to University Behavioral HealthCare). The Outreach Program’s
staff is comprised of Bachelor’s-level mental health specialists
with training in geriatrics and with extensive knowledge of community
resources. A combination of home visits; work with family members,
neighbors, and other informal support networks; negotiating entitlement
programs; consultation with geropsychiatrists, geropsychologists,
geriatric social workers, and other mental health professionals;
and, most importantly, time spent in gaining the trust of the
client has helped to overcome older adults’ resistance to
mental health treatment in many instances.
Case management staff of the Geriatric Community Outreach
Program may be contacted by calling 732-235-8400 or by contacting
UBHC’s COPSA Resource Center at 1-800-424-2494. Outreach
Program staff are available Monday through Thursday, 8:30
am to 9:00 pm, and Fridays from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
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