Social services non-profit WISE & Healthy Aging has just received a $20,000 mental health grant from the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, West Los Angeles, announced WISE & Healthy Aging President and CEO Grace Cheng Braun. The two-year grant will fund innovative mental health services for at-risk homeless seniors living on the Los Angeles Westside.
The Kaiser Foundation grant makes it possible for WISE & Healthy Aging to reach out to older homeless, often mentally ill persons wherever they may be, in public locations such as parks, libraries, churches and farmers markets, and connect them with the many supportive services available to them, according to Jennifer Levine, PsyD, clinical director of the agency's Mental Health Services Department and its Field Capable Clinical Service program.
The grant monies allow WISE & Healthy Aging to bring a clinical psychology post-doctoral fellow on staff in each of the two years, to conduct the outreach to the homeless seniors.
"Going out into the field is a newer, progressive way of working. It allows us to provide education, psychotherapy and psychiatric services to individuals who are not normally able to seek out services on their own," Dr. Levine said. "Without the Kaiser Foundation funding, we wouldn't have the manpower to work this way. We are very grateful for the grant."
"We are proud to support the Mental Health Services at WISE & Healthy Aging, which have a profound impact on the well-being of one of our most vulnerable populations," said Georgina Garcia, executive director of Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. "Their advocacy and commitment to serving seniors is critically important and we are grateful for their dedicated efforts to improving the lives of this at-risk community."
To learn more about WISE & Healthy Aging, please call (310) 394-9871 or go to www.wiseandhealthyaging.org.
WISE & Healthy Aging is the result of the 2007 merger of WISE Senior Services and Center for Healthy Aging. With a combined 75 years experience serving older adults, the nonprofit, social services organization brings together a synergy of services, information, programs and support for older adults, caregivers of the elderly and the professionals who work with them. For more information, call (310) 394-9871 or visit www.wiseandhealthyaging.org.
