By Vincent Lim
Maria Aranda, an associate professor at the USC School of Social Work and core faculty of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, presented findings from a recent Institute of Medicine report commissioned by Congress on the state of the geriatric mental health and substance abuse workforce at a Capitol Hill briefing co-sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers in Washington, D.C.
Aranda, a licensed social worker, researcher and educator, was one of only two social workers selected to serve on the IOM committee on the Mental Health Workforce for Geriatric Populations that contributed to the report “The Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce for Older Adults: In Whose Hands?” In it, the committee underscores the largely unknown and growing crisis of mental illness and substance abuse among America’s older adult population.
The report examined the oftentimes neglected part of the health equation and the associated workforce issues.