February Behavioral Health & Aging Newsletter |
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Welcome to OCEBHA’s new monthly newsletter! Each month, we’ll be sending out a brief newsletter highlighting some of the last month’s important news and applicable research in behavioral health and aging, and events and opportunities for the upcoming month.
This month, we’re sharing some exciting news about OCEBHA’s work, actionable research for practitioners on substance use and older adult loneliness, along with select February events from our partners across Oregon.
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Save the Date: our 3rd annual two-day Behavioral Health & Aging conference will take place September 15-16, 2026 at the Wilsonville Conference Center in Wilsonville, OR. More information to come, stay up to date on our website at this link.
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Interested in partnering with OCEBHA on the conference? Visit our sponsorship form at this link.
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OCEBHA has compiled an essential screening and assessment tool for professionals who work with older adults who may have behavioral health needs including depression, agitation, and dementia. This 100-page document is formatted for easy digital access and printing. View the resource at this link.
- OCEBHA has been awarded one of four US Administration on Community Living 2025 Chronic Disease Self-Management Education (CDSME) Program grants of $1.25 million! Over three years, we’ll work to provide two evidence-based interventions for older adults with behavioral health needs who live in licensed long-term care communities and in the community through senior centers all across Oregon. 🥳
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A new report from the American Medical Association (AMA) highlights five areas of concern and actionable steps to address the nation’s overdose epidemic and offer treatment to patients with substance-use and pain disorders. Opioid prescribing is down 52% since 2012, but there is still work to do to support patients in receiving evidence-based pain care and reduce overdoses. Here are a few key highlights from the 2025 report.
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Opioid prescriptions have decreased since 2012, yet non-opioid pain care remains inadequate.
- Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) including buprenorphine and methadone save lives but remain underutilized due to stigma, regulatory barriers and insurance restrictions.
- Increased naloxone availability prevents overdose deaths.
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Polysubstance use is on the rise.
- Policy priorities: enforce mental health and SUD parity laws, remove barriers to treatment for pain, and SUDs, and strengthen overdose prevention efforts targeting youth and vulnerable populations.
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Read the full report and learn more about the AMA’s continued efforts to build a collaborative network across practitioners, organizations, and communities to ensure equitable access to care, reduce stigma, and save lives.
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Social disconnection—isolation and loneliness—is increasingly recognized as a key determinant of older adult health. Cognitive‐behavioral interventions can improve social connection for disconnected older adults, yet access can be challenging. Brief interventions that can be integrated into existing infrastructure and programming (e.g., crisis or emotional support phone lines) are urgently needed. One promising approach is Connection Planning, a theory‐based and evidence‐informed behavioral strategy for promoting feelings of social connection. A pilot program development project was conducted to implement Connection Planning with callers to a statewide Senior Loneliness Line. Partners from the state health authority, social service organization, and an academic research team collaborated to implement and evaluate the program.
- Factors that facilitated participant engagement with the program included provider characteristics (e.g., empathic) and program characteristics (e.g., scheduling flexibility).
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Challenges to implementing the program included program promotion and enrollment difficulties and the introduction of new structured elements into calls. Additional needs for training and funding to support program sustainability were identified. Building social infrastructure to promote social connection in older adulthood requires concerted effort from stakeholders across sectors. We discuss the challenges and lessons learned from this cross‐sector collaboration to pilot a social connection program for older adults at the state level and suggest opportunities to leverage funding mechanisms and implementation science principles that could support success of future efforts to develop policies and practices that are responsive to older adult social needs.
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Behavioral Health & Aging Training Resources |
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| Oregon Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program |
The Oregon Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) is a federally funded cooperative training grant to foster the care capacity of healthcare providers, caregivers, and patients to provide age-friendly and dementia-friendly care in rural, underserved, and Tribal communities. The GWEP’s interprofessional team of educators partners with academic, state, community, and Tribal organizations across Oregon to provide no-cost training and education related to older adult health. In its first year, the GWEP created a six module online series titled “Navigating Dementia: Essential Skills for Care Teams” targeted at non-prescribers to learn more about dementia care. Click here to register.
The Oregon GWEP team is particularly interested in creating training and education around behavioral health in rural communities. Their team collaborated with OABHI and GOBHI to teach about the effects of social isolation in eastern Oregon and GWEP has multiple teaching sessions planned this year in rural and Tribal communities that highlight the impact depression and isolation have on brain health.
The Oregon GWEP team is excited to find ways to partner with groups across Oregon to provide no-cost training and education for providers, clinical care teams, long-term care facilities, patients and families. For more information or to request training, contact Oregon GWEP at gwep@ohsu.edu.
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| BRIDGES for Older Adults Free Facilitator Training & Toolkits |
LECOM Health provides free, facilitator-ready training and toolkits for evidence-based programs serving older adults with behavioral health needs. These training modules and toolkits support facilitators who are leading chronic disease self-management (CDSM) and other evidence-based programs for older adults. More information about these trainings including how to register at the button below:
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Community and Partner Events |
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- February 25, 2026, 7 - 8:30pm, “Can They Make This Decision? Understanding Capacity and Consent in Dementia”
- Oregon Care Partners, presenter Dr. Adi Shafir, MD from the OHSU School of Medicine.
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Advancing Workforce Analysis and Research for Dementia (AWARD) Network second Summer Training Institute will be held July 20-24, 2026 in San Francisco
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The goal of the Summer Institute is to train early-stage researchers, such as doctoral candidates working on their dissertation, post-doctoral scholars, and assistant professors, in understanding concepts underlying research on the health and long-term care workforce that serves people living with dementia and developing approaches to conducting and disseminating such research.
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Applications due February 27, 2026.
- Stipend funding of $1,700 will be available to assist with expenses.
- Find local community-based programs on our curated OCEBHA Asset Map
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Join us in observing these older adult behavioral health events...
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February is National Senior Independence Month |
February is National Senior Independence month, a time to support older adults to stay connected with their families, friends, and communities to live long, connected, and fulfilling lives. This month, take time to check in with older adults in your life and connect them with resources online and in their community.
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February 20:
National Caregivers Day |
February 20th is National Caregivers Day, a time to recognize and honor the critical contributions families, friends, health care teams, and local communities make in supporting the lives of older adults with behavioral health needs.
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- Did you know that...
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The average family caregiver spends $7,200 per year out-of-pocket on caregiving expenses (AARP March 2025).
- 1 in 4 adults in Oregon provide care to a family member or friend.
- 62% of family caregivers also work while caregiving.
- Only 14% of family caregivers receive training to help with ADLs or symptom management.
- 40% of caregivers have no other help with providing care.
- Caregivers are key to managing health care—the majority of caregivers monitor patient symptoms, communicate with healthcare professionals, and advocate for services.
- Learn more at this link.
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Show your appreciation for caregivers on the 20th by recognizing the important role they play in the lives of older adults and in professional care.
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Portland State University | Institute on Aging | Portland, OR 97201-0751 US
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