PEER GROUP COUNSELING FOR OLDER PEOPLE

>For a variety of reasons, psychological services are largely unavailable for older people who want help in coping with their interpersonal problems. Group counseling, when it is used, proves to be an effective and efficient method for meeting their needs. It also addresses the reality of the limited numbers of gerontologically trained professionals currently available in the field. A readily attainable, and largely untapped, resource for working with this population is older people themselves. The Continuum Center of Oakland University selects, trains, and supervises older men and women, who serve as paraprofessional group leaders in a self‐exploration program offered in a variety of community centers in the Detroit metropolitan area. The service and training programs, and some of the outcomes for clients and group leaders, are briefly described.     

Understanding allyhood as a developmental process

Rhian Waters challenges us to move beyond the concept of allyhood as identity and applies student development theory to the development of social justice allies.