The 7th Annual Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day symposium will be held virtually on Thursday, May 2, 2024. The free event is hosted by the National Council on Aging (NCOA), with funding provided by U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The symposium is designed to raise awareness to better address the issues of older adult mental health and substance use disorders and highlight resources, case studies, and initiatives available to practitioners working with adults age 50+ living in the community. Last year, over 9,500 people registered for the event. The 2023 event received recognition from the White House and featured a welcome message from the U.S. Surgeon General.
Why present?
- Highlight and receive national visibility for your research or program related to mental health and aging.
- Be a part of a community that raises awareness to better address the issues of older adult mental health and substance use disorders.
- Collaborate with public health practitioners, professionals in the aging network, and mental health and substance use disorder providers/professionals
- Present in a session that offers continuing education credit to a wide range of professionals.
- Build strategic partnerships and network with thousands of professionals in aging and behavioral health.
- And more!
Who attends
Public health practitioners, professionals in the aging network, mental health and substance use disorder providers/professionals, healthcare professionals, university students, academic researchers, and anyone interested in ensuring the mental health of older adults.
Instructions
- Proofread all submissions carefully to avoid errors.
- Write a short, specific title without any abbreviations. Be creative!
- Define all acronyms in parentheses after the first use of the word or phrase.
- Share local examples of innovative concepts, models of success, and strategies to overcoming barriers when serving older adults with mental health concerns.
Consider the following prompts:
- What lessons learned from your work have shown a benefit to others?
- Does this work inspire systemic change?
- Does this work instill a deeper understanding of the people it will serve (population segment) ?
- Does this work take risks and push an organization into uncharted territory?
- Is this work easily replicable? How could it be applied to other communities and/or within other organizations?
- Will this work provide local models of success and offer strategies to overcome barriers and challenges?
Key Dates and Deadlines
Nov. 6, 2023: Deadline for presentation submissions
Nov. 13 - Dec. 31, 2023: Submission review
Jan. 5, 2024: Notification sent to presenters
March 11, 2024: Symposium registration opens
March 2024: Speaker prep meetings
March 31, 2024: Agenda goes live
April 2024: Speaker tech trainings
May 2, 2024: 7th Annual Older Adult Mental Health Symposium
Submission Instructions
- Click "Login" in the blue bar at the top of this page.
- Click "New User? Click Here."
- Complete all required fields to create your profile.
- When you’re finished, you will be redirected back to the homepage.
- Click "Submissions" in the blue bar at the top of the page.
- Click "Add New" to start your submission. Complete all required fields. If necessary, you can save and return later to complete your submission. You will be required to login again to make changes.
- A sample submission form is provided, so you can see the submission questions and use as a template to create your abstract. It is recommended to create your submission in the Word document template, then copy and paste your responses in the online submission form.