AHA podcast explores providing mental health to older adults

In an American Hospital Association podcast, leaders from Philippi, W.V.-based Broaddus Hospital discuss how it is meeting the behavioral health needs of older adults through an intensive outpatient group therapy program. The hospital started the program, which offers individual, family and group therapy, as well as medication management, after its community health needs assessment found 22% of residents over age 65 expressed a need for behavioral health care. The hospital leaders say the program has decreased social isolation and loneliness. The behavioral health conditions of older people often go under-recognized, undertreated and are stigmatized, according to the World Health Organization.