Center for Successful Aging

524 Chapala Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Phone: (805) 899-2915
Fax: (805) 957-9230
Email: info@csasb.org
Web: www.csasb.org

Supporting those who support seniors
Frank Newton

December 9, 2008 10:05 AM
The economy is making life difficult for many seniors -- and also for the organizations devoted to helping them. Fortunately, there are some bright spots. Six months ago, I wrote about a unique service in Santa Barbara called the Center for Successful Aging, which, at no cost, provides counseling to address the emotional problems that beset many individuals age 50-plus. What is distinctive is that the counselors are age 50-plus themselves. Thus, the service model is referred to as "peer counseling."
In its three years of operation, housed at the Jewish Federation, CSA has proven its worth by growing in several important ways. It began with 16 counselors and now has more than 30. The number of clients receiving counseling has ballooned from 20 per week to about 150 per week. Moreover, service has expanded from one-on-one counseling to include group counseling sessions. CSA runs weekly support groups at more than half a dozen senior residential facilities around town.
Dr. Beverly Schydlowsky, licensed clinical social worker and director of CSA, has also instituted a community education service. She regularly speaks to civic and church groups about the often overlooked emotional needs of older adults and their family members.
"It's amazing," Dr. Schydlowsky observes, "that when policymakers and the public talk about the needs of seniors, they usually just talk about housing, transportation and health issues. Yes, these are important, but no one goes on to mention the emotional problems associated with aging, which are just as important."
While CSA has been expanding its services, something else significant has been going on in our society this year -- namely, the economic meltdown. This has increased the need and demand for CSA's counseling services because money problems are a major source of emotional stress for most people. Certainly, the recent market downturn has walloped many baby boomers and recent retirees who thought they had solid nest eggs and now wonder if they can ever retire. And the elderly who live on a fixed income are really struggling, including those in retirement communities who wonder if they can still afford the rent.
This economic crisis has also walloped organizations -- in particular, nonprofit groups like CSA. So at the very time that the need for counseling seniors is increasing, the money to support such counseling is drying up. CSA has, of course, increased its fundraising efforts -- but so have all the other nonprofit groups in town. Thus, CSA is facing a grim situation where there are less dollars in the pot for community services and more organizations competing for a spoonful from that smaller pot.
I'm happy to report that two generous individuals have stepped up during this holiday time to assist CSA. One donated $5,000 in the form of a matching grant, challenging CSA to find additional $5,000 donations. The other donor simply wrote out a check for $20,000. Wishing to remain anonymous, she explained that her satisfaction comes from knowing that these funds will help many individuals and families throughout the Santa Barbara area.
I tell this story because CSA is typical of the other nonprofit groups in our town that are dedicated to helping others but are now tightening their belts and struggling for support. The generosity shown to CSA is an example of the generous spirit that is needed to pull all of us through these tough times. The natural impulse is to think first of our own survival, yet now is the very time when we most need to look beyond ourselves to the greater good. Such caring, generosity and mutual support are truly at the core of what's best about the holiday season.
If you are interested in providing support to the Center for Successful Aging, call 899-2915. And if you have any stories about how the economy or holidays have affected you, please e-mail me at franktalk@cox.net.
Santa Barbara-based Frank Newton has worked with seniors in various capacities over the years, including as executive director of the Southwest Society on Aging in Dallas. His column appears every other week. E-mail him at franktalk@cox.net.

Funding Concerns at the Center for Successful Aging Popular Peer Counseling Program Loses Grants

By Ben Preston
Santa Barbara Independent

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Aging is a process that affects every individual differently, but in every case, it presents a unique set of challenges for the aging person and their friends and family. As a person grows older, physiological changes combine with dynamic family roles and an ever-diminishing pool of friends to create circumstances that may be difficult for someone to grasp when it is actually happening to them. Santa Barbara's Center for Successful Aging is a free peer-counseling service offered to help people over the age of 50 cope with the trials related to growing older. "People are living longer, and want to know how to live peaceful and happy lives," said Dr. Beverly Schydlowsky, the center's director. "They want to stay healthy and contribute, because if you have meaning and purpose in life, you stay happier and healthier."

Although the center—which serves roughly 1,500 seniors in the area—is housed at the Jewish Federation on Chapala Street, it is not religiously affiliated, and is cosponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara and Catholic Charities of the Santa Barbara Region.

"How to age successfully is a mystery because there aren’t a lot of models of it," said Schydlowsky.

The types of problems faced by many elderly people—dying friends, estrangement from children and families, diminishing physical function—can be difficult to deal with, and money available for mitigation programs is becoming scarce. At a time when global economic turmoil is finding its way into all aspects of people's lives, the Center for Successful Aging is finding itself short of funding as grants and donations are discontinued. "We're really the only agency serving these people, and if we don't get funding, who else is going to do this?" asked Schydlowsky.

People who utilize the center do so for free, but there are costs associated with running such a program. "We've always been on a shoestring, so we've never had much of a marketing budget," said Schydlowski, adding that this makes it difficult to get the word out to procure more funding. The center's counselors are volunteers who each pay $300 to undergo training. Schydlowsky is paid to train and supervise volunteers and she administers the program.

Santa Barbara has approximately 1,600 nonprofits, all vying for grant money and other funding opportunities, so finding funds when private donations are at a low can be challenging. In addition, Catholic Charities has had to reduce its financial support for the center. "Unfortunately, the Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles has some enormous fiscal problems due to [recent] judgments against them, and that has telegraphed to organizations that have no issues," said Schydlowski. "We hope that when things get better, they'll increase their role."

Schydlowsky has already been forced to scale back the number of hours she works, which she said are mainly spent screening potential clients for suitability—some people have problems which are beyond the scope of the peer counseling approach, and a mental health professional is required to discern the needs of individual patients. Nonetheless, Schydlowsky and her volunteers have attempted to expand the program, including the addition of a class at the Braille Institute for people who aren't blind, but suffer from low vision due to ailments such as macular degeneration. "We really have a vital role in the community, and we're serving people who wouldn't be served otherwise," she said.

Most of the center's energy goes into one-on-one peer counseling, but there are other programs as well. "At any given time, we're serving about 120 people two to four times per month, ” said Ralph Baxter, one of the center’s volunteers and its treasurer. There are a number of regular group functions, such as the Schmooze Room for Seniors—which is held every Tuesday afternoon at the Jewish Community Center—and a series of support groups held at the Santa Barbara area's various senior centers and residential facilities.

Regardless of financial setbacks, the Center for Successful Aging presses onward.

New volunteers are being trained, and those who have been there for a while continue to contribute their time and good will. Volunteers, who range in age from 50 to 102, often have elderly parents or friends they are caring for. Schydlowsky said that the average length of service for CSA's counselors is about 10 years. "My observation is that counselors get a great deal of personal value [from this] because in addition to helping someone else, they're learning about their own aging," she said.

Luel Hawley-Sedlak, who lives in a senior center, was part of a recent class of volunteer trainees. She said she wanted to provide meaningful interaction for people who have suffered losses and may now be lonely or isolated. Maria Gibson works at a private healthcare facility serving many geriatric patients. Gibson said that the center's training would be beneficial to her job function.

"How to age successfully is a mystery because there aren’t a lot of models of it. We are the models — we're setting the standard for successful aging," said Schydlowsky, stating her hope that funding will improve soon. "This is a nightmare and it's only going to get worse. Who do people turn to for answers? They turn to an agency like ours."

4-1-1: For more information about the Center for Successful Aging, or to make a donation, call the Jewish Federation at (805) 962-2975.

Want to help others -- and yourself -- cope with aging?

Santa Barbara News Press
Frank Newton
July 22, 2008 8:26 AM

"Life would be infinitely happier if only we could be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18" -- Mark Twain

When you stop and think about it for a moment, growing old is a pretty grim prospect. Friends and relatives die off, leading to loneliness. Retirement may not be all that it's cracked up to be. Not having enough money is a problem. I hear tell, having a lot of money creates headaches, too. On top of that, your body goes through a lot of changes, almost none of which are anything to look forward to.

Maybe that's why we Americans try not to stop and think about it, even for a moment.

Fortunately, there is a wonderful local organization that can help us cope with the travails of life beyond age 50: the Center for Successful Aging
.
CSA basically offers one type of service: counseling for those age 50-plus. It's not the intense psychotherapy you might imagine; but, as Liza Doolittle would say, it's "more friendly like." All the counselors are age 50-plus volunteers who have been well-trained. They are called "peer counselors" because they are roughly the same age as their clients.

Like a good friend, a peer counselor is sympathetic, but well-trained in good listening skills. Because they're the same age, they can relate more easily to the client's troubles. And because they're guided by mental health professionals, their empathy can more effectively help build someone's self-esteem and empower them to tackle life's problems.

"Caring, trust and innovation grounded in professional training" expresses the credo of CSA. And that training enables peer counselors to help seniors in one-on-one or group counseling sessions, addressing such crucial aging problems as physical changes, social isolation, loss, depression, stress and life transitions.

CSA has about two dozen peer counselors, most of whom are seeing one to three clients per week. But there is a clear need for more counselors because the number of people turning age 50 is rapidly increasing day by day.

To find and train more peer counselors, CSA is planning a 10-week training session starting in October. It is accepting applications now from any interested person age 50 and over.

"We're looking for people who can listen, who are compassionate, who have empathy and like seniors," explains Beverly Schydlowsky, director of CSA. "They certainly don't need mental health backgrounds. They could have been librarians or bookkeepers all their life -- that really doesn't matter."

She said anyone considering becoming a peer counselor should ask the following questions: Am I the sort of person who people have always confided in? Have people always turned to me because I have a sympathetic ear?

"Fundamentally, that's the kind of person we're looking for," she said.

If you get accepted, you'll have to pay a bit for the training (remember, this is a nonprofit agency). But then get ready to embark on what may prove to be the most meaningful and personally satisfying work you've ever done in your life.

"Our peer counselors find their training exciting and enriching," emphasizes Dr. Schydlowsky. "The training is great and the experience of being a counselor benefits the counselor as much as the client. Peer counselors make new friends; they perform a service that's vitally needed; and they get back a lot more than they give."

If this sounds like it's right up your alley, then give it a try. CSA is in need of peer counselors and they'd love to see your application. All you have to do to get an application is call the CSA office at 899-2915 or download one from their Web site at www.csasb.org.

The application deadline is Sept. 15 and the training will begin in October at CSA's offices downtown, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, 524 Chapala St. Remember, CSA is a non-sectarian, nonprofit organization, open to any and all interested persons.

Santa Barbara-based Frank Newton has worked with seniors in various capacities over the years, including as executive director of the Southwest Society on Aging in Dallas. His column appears every other week.

For more information on CSA events,
please contact us at
(805) 899-2915 or email info@csasb.org