58th Annual PCA Conference

Name: The Resilient Mind: Holistic Strategies for Socialization and Healing in Later Life
Start: 2026-11-07T14:00:00-0500
End: 2026-11-07T14:30:00-0500

The Resilient Mind: Holistic Strategies for Socialization and Healing in Later Life

Saturday November 7, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm EST

In the United States, about a quarter of adults 65 and older experience social isolation, meaning they have few or no social relationships. This is different from loneliness, which is the feeling of lacking meaningful connections, and the two do not always occur together.
According to the United Health Foundation (2025), Pennsylvania has a social isolation risk score of 57 among adults 65 and older, indicating a moderate level of risk based on factors such as poverty, living alone, disability, and marital status; higher scores mean greater risk.
This poster presentation presents a comprehensive proposal to support the aging population by focusing on geriatric counseling. Current single modality approaches often fail to capture the multi-dimensional nature of aging, which encompasses identity loss, physical decline, social isolation, and technological displacement.
I am advocating for an assimilative-integrated approach, a flexible model that maintains a theoretical core with a person-centered approach while integrating the most effective tools from various therapeutic disciplines. The proposed poster will visually map this model, showcasing a tiered support structure:

Foundational Support: Through a structured psychoeducation for both elderly clients and their families, fostering understanding of the aging process.
Specialized Interventions: Focusing on individual counseling specific to cases of grief and trauma, incorporating group counseling for shared experience, and combating isolation.
Creative & Experiential Therapies: Proposing the strategic inclusion of music therapy for cognitive stimulation and laughing therapy in group sessions for physiological and psychological release.
Social & Generational Bridging: Finally, the poster illustrates practical methods to help the elderly socialize, share feelings and sentiments surrounding transitions in late adulthood, identify what has helped them cope with changes, and identify elements of hope for the future.
Highlighting the importance of holistic care, through meditation to navigate complex negative thoughts pertaining to life as an elderly person. This poster presents a compelling, professional roadmap, essential for practitioners, researchers, and advocates dedicated to implementing innovative, compassionate approaches that effectively empower the elderly population.

Speakers

Harsha Erumbassery

Graduate Assisstant, Graduate student, Shippensburg University

Current Master's student in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with a background in Bachelor's of Homeopathic Medicine from Rajive Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India. Passionate about Geriatric Counseling, Couples and Family Counseling using an Assimilative Integrated Theory... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm EST

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58th Annual PCA Conference

Harsha Erumbassery

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58th Annual PCA Conference

Harsha Erumbassery

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