A proposal for mental health delivery to naturally occurring retirement communities. The elderly are aging in place in their communities . They prefer supportive, age-integrated housing which is familiar, safe and convenient to neighborhood services. Proximity to friends and family is important, yet they desire independence for as long as safely possible. Housing is mostly single units, homes or small apartment building clusters in urban, suburban, and rural settings.
Services addressing the needs of an ever increasing frail dependent group are often inadequate.
The frail elderly group has a greatly increased risk of debilitating mental illness. Caretakers of these victims of dementia are themselves a high risk group for depression anxiety and other stress- related disorders. Alcoholism continues to be a rampant undetected treatable disorder in the elderly. Anxiety states, phobic behavior, and delirium are common and increase with aging. Despite the increasing number of mentally disturbed elderly, mental health professionals have had limited track record of community outreach , .