The Awakening: Self-Empowerment of Older Adults

904 Words2 Pages

Katz 7 required to receive further licensing and certifications. There are options through the PhD level, and at this level would most likely include research and policy. As the senior population grows, there is a projected growth in this field of 25%, with an additional growth of 34% in the healthcare fields through the year 2020. The Boomer cohorts are indicated as a noted as a major contributing factor.
In addition to professional staff, there are many volunteers working in the field with seniors. One area that I found in my research on the topic of self-empowerment, are the new-age modalities that will spill over into the counselling of the aging demographic. Individuals like myself, who are called “light-workers” have a code they live and teach by. These are people who empower others by setting an example, and are here to teach the joys in living this kind of life. There is a creed we live by, and as more of these individuals begin to emerge to work with organizations, as therapists and social workers, this trend will continue to grow.

Katz 8
The theoretical basis in which I have chosen to counsel this cohort of seniors is Constructivism. There isn’t one particular technique, but rather it combines several different methodologies which help to transform the individual dynamic to create change. Constructivism is based on the belief that a person understands themselves, as well as their surroundings by looking at life events and reflecting upon them. Every individual comes to therapy with different life events, and how that person responds and accepts these circumstances determine what actions and decisions they make. Constructivist theory believes that we are do not passively receive a sense of knowing, but rat...

... middle of paper ...

...wn lives. I am most aware os the fact that my generation, the baby-boomers, are going to have another big responsibility in being the change we want to see. That includes the obvious changes within the government as well as the economy and our environment. The baby-boomer generation was one of change, on many levels, and now that we have reached this next level of our evolution, the gauntlet is passed to us once again. If I am to champion other seniors to live their best life now, I am ready for the challenge.
In the words of Nobel Prize winner, Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, educator and social critic.
“To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future”

Open Document