The Adultspan Newsletter is an official publication of the Association for Adult Development and Aging, a division of the American Counseling Association.
Adultspan Newsletter Editor
Amy Zavadil
zavadila@mail.montclair.edu
Excerpts from Fall 2009 Newsletter---
“Medicare Coverage for Counselors: The time is now” by Gary McClain, PhD., LMHC
Chances are that over the past couple of years or more, you’ve received email messages regarding Medicare coverage for licensed counselors, often accompanied by a letter that you can, in turn, pass on to your representatives in Congress. If you work with clients in this age group, or aspire to, or if you just want to see counselors receive deserved recognition as mental health professionals, you probably agree that this legislation is long overdue. The focus of my work is with patients facing chronic and catastrophic illness, so Medicare coverage is especially important to me. However, I have been facing my own healthcare crisis over the past two years – my elderly mother’s failing health. She lives in an assisted living facility three states away, requiring monthly trips and daily phone contact to oversee her care. Last summer I realized that she was presenting a range of depression symptoms, and I asked her physician to arrange for a mental health evaluation and intervention. She was visited by a...
“The Graduate Student Corner” by Michelle Nerish
Many current graduate programs address adult development and aging categorically, for example, specifying addictions or multiculturalism.
Although this method is needed, I contend that there is more knowledge required when referring to the adult lifespan. Educationally, we are part of a generation that has an opportunity to counsel adults with a myriad of issues that previously have not existed. Those who were financially hit hard due to recent events with the economy, those who have experienced loss due to Katrina or 9/11, those effected by the ever advancing world of the internet, leaving some generations and socio economic classes behind, and those older adults who have to live with their children or have their parents living with them for the first time since young adulthood. These are just a few examples of the ever growing issues related to adult development. How do we best assist in their wellness if we are not aware of the developmental and environmental challenges they face? So, where do we begin? Perhaps it is with each other. As counselors, establishing common interest bonds are important to our overall practice. There is great need for awareness in this matter and having a solid network will greatly enhance the work we do individually. Therefore, I...
“PRACTITIONER’S PERSPECTIVE” by Suzanne Degges-White
As I reflected on how to focus this inaugural column, I appreciated the opportunity to stretch my mind in new directions. Writing from the “practitioner brain,” not just the “scientist brain,” can open up a few brand new neural pathways and give a few overused pathways a rest. And research consistently shows that keeping the brain firing in both hemispheres is important to overall physical and emotional well-being. A couple of years ago, I entered my first yoga class and 90 minutes later I knew that I would integrate the practice into my life. I’ve made the weekly trek to this particular class ever since. Students range in age from barely 18 to beyond 70 – the entire adult lifespan is represented among our members. As we all arrive from our diverse paths in life, we sit together, each in our own personal approximation of lotus pose, and “let the dust settle” before moving into our vinyasas. Most evenings include a series of “brain balancing” movements and poses. Sometimes we start on all fours then lift our right arm straight out from our shoulder as we lift our left leg in a counterbalancing position. The biggest challenge is not necessarily holding the pose; sometimes the...
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