Individual and Group
Psychotherapy, Coaching and Consulting for Adults

I like working with a variety of adult populations and one of my favorites are adults 65 and up.  Today, 65 IS the new 55.  Senior citizens are more active than ever and living longer in a healthy manner as well.

Mental wellness is not assured at any age and for the geriatric set, there are unique challenges and opportunities.  Did you know, for example, that over fifteen percent of those of us ages 60 and above will have a mental disorder?

I started out my mental health career with a graduate school training internship in what is called a continuing care retirement community or, CCRC. There are many of them in the Maryland area. CCRC's are often quite pricey, but they do deliver a continuum of living environments that support you as you 'age in place'. People usually move into a CCRC when they are still healthy and independent. The high entrance fees cover you as you age, and if you ever need more intensive levels of care, such as assisted living, memory care or nursing home care.

Then, I spent 2004-2014 living in retirement mecca, close to The Villages, Florida. Those 10 years really broadened my practice experience working with active adults 55 and up. I ran an outpatient program in The Villages that was quite unique. I served men and women from midlife through their 80's in this clinic, which counted as it's clients many fine men and women dealing with the challenges of aging in paradise. In fact, don't buy that hype. People do usually take their problems with them, whether it be depression, substance abuse, caregiver stress, loss of physical faculties, etc.

Part of my time with that program was spent on the inpatient unit of the program's psychiatric hospital, treating adult clients whose needs were often life threatening, due to severe types of mental illness.

I also spent much of those 10 years as an independent, private practitioner providing mental health treatment to residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities throughout north and central Florida. I called myself a 'traveling therapist' and I traversed large distances visiting clients who didn't have access to mental health care otherwise.

I even sought out specialized training in pet assisted therapy in Orlando, Florida and incorporated my miniature pinscher Lucy, into my work in Florida, which was a joy to many clients, for many years.

So today, as I've returned to my home town, Baltimore, Maryland, I am building my practice for seniors. I have an office in Towson, Maryland and am available on a limited basis for in home therapy visits in the Parkville, Perry Hall, White Marsh, Rosedale and Nottingham, MD areas.

A lot of adult children reach out to me, seeking care for their mom or dad. As busy workers, they are doing the best they can and are seeking that 'something that's missing' in the care of their aging loved one. Often, for example, kids worry about their widowed mom who recently downsized into apartment living and is experiencing problems in getting used to that lifestyle, after decades of living in their own home.

Or their dad has suddenly (or after a long illness) lost their spouse to cancer or dementia and they are grieving without professional support. It is incredibly difficult for many men - for example - when their wives predecease them.

Either way, in any of these scenarios (and others too), I can help.

WANT TO LEARN MORE? Ready to start solving your stress?  Call me 410-967-3848 and we'll set up a free, no obligation phone consult to discuss.  Leave me a message and let me know when is a good time for you to talk in the next few days.

Barb Elgin

Emotional and physical wellness for workers and professionals whose job it is to heal, teach or otherwise care for society is often ignored by employers and professional organizations.  I've practiced in my industry for over 30 years and I can tell you, scant attention is paid to the golden goose who lays the golden eggs, that is the professionals who day in and day out serve their students, clients and patients.

It's a toss up who suffers the most in this scenario. But the bottom line is that sick helpers can't do their best work. So patients, clients, marriages as well as family members all suffer the displacement of worker burnout and compassion fatigue. I can tell you a story or two of a burned out nurse who treated me poorly while I was hospitalized or during a procedure and the psychiatrist who takes out his work stress on his employees. Or the callous call center nurse who browbeats her trainees.

All of us have been on that side of the table and experienced the negative effects. When your primary doctor spends five minutes with you and rushes the interaction so much they truly don't get a sense of you or even judge you (put you in a diagnostic box), and you don't get to deeply discuss what your concerns are, what's the result? Missed opportunity for supportive counseling and proper diagnosis? Perhaps. Or maybe just a missed diagnosis?  Yikes!

Or, how about when your therapist or counselor rushes you out the door at minute 45 just when it is most important for you to share something vital that only came out of your discussion because your therapist was truly taking his or her time with you and really put their care into the session? That's the result.

In the health care marketplace, for example, there are dozens of healers taking care of us.  There are physicians, nurses in hospitals, physical therapists, massage therapists and many more.  In my years working in a variety of settings, for example, perhaps the most 'put upon' nurse I've seen is the nurse working in the inpatient psych hospitals!.   Who loses?  Patients, most of all.  How?  The best nurses leave the field. When a psych unit is understaffed, it can become gravely dangerous.  Look it up: how many patients have died on inpatient psych units because there wasn't enough staff to observe a suicidal or homicidal client and another patient was murdered. It happens more than you think.

I was trained as a social worker over 30 years ago.  During those years I've practiced on my own and as part of organizations large and small, public/governmental and private.  I have to sadly say that many mental health practice environments are cruel, both for clients and for it's employees.

Our leadership organizations are not much better. As a social worker I have experienced the lack of support in my profession for the types of environmental supports we need to practice to the best of our abilities over time. Our professional organizations are more concerned it seems with looking good as they serve the needy, but they don't spend enough time serving those who serve those sick and needy!

And, if you are even lucky enough to have a union, good luck. It's probably pretty ineffective.

Doctors, dentists and nurses are stressed unbelievably so in today's health care system. Those trained 'the old way', meaning doctors now, lament the better hours the trainees coming up are getting. I say: it's about time! Stop talking badly about them and instead turn your frustration towards the true culprits: management and the hospital administrators and hospital owners who should make helping you stay your healthiest so you can do your best on the job!  It's not just your fault when your family life suffers because of the demands your hospital likely places on you.  

Teachers are known to be at very high risk of burnout as well.

And if you burnout?  No one notices or cares or likely - if they do - they tend to blame the worker instead of the sick environment and conditions we are working under.  Yes, one large HMO I know had it's workers go out on strike due to concerns like 'too large patient loads'. They won a concession, but now, when patients go there for care, they find they receive one session and no offer for a follow up.  People on medications are refilled often without even being seen.

Of course, practicalities are at issue. Despite all of what I've just said, the United States is still one of the most inefficient spenders of medical care in the world. And still, we don't pay enough of our caregivers and our healers enough. A few at the top make the most.  Usually those who don't do the direct care.  How ironic and crazy is that?

But it's not just money, although that is a big problem. We need to infuse our care systems with more resources. THE BOTTOM LINE IS SUCH:  If we don't do something, patients suffer.  Already, there are many areas in America where the wait lists to see a doctor or therapist are months long.  10 years from now, unless we improve working conditions enough to attract the best and brightest to these fields, we will be in big trouble!

Healers burnout and either hurt other healers by verbal abuse or hurt patients. Our best healers and teachers often leave their field, because they burned out.

My work as a social work professional is coming down to it's last years. I've loved what I do and I've had to take big risks to practice in a way that keeps me providing the best help I can. Many aren't as courageous or able as me however, to take the risks involved. in this final 10-15 years or so of my career, I hope to be a big part of addressing some of the concerns I've noted above.

I specialize in counseling health care professionals and teaching professionals who are sick and tired of working in the sick system and are ready to heal themselves, and challenge for the changes that need to happen ASAP.

Is that you?  If you are burning out or you are burned out and you don't know where else to turn, call me 410-967-3848 and we'll figure out how to get you unstuck!