Center for Successful Aging
Not Profit of the Week - February 28, 2010

The Center for Successful Aging seeks to promote the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health of seniors and their families, by providing individual counseling, group support and educational programming. There is never a charge for our services and we serve any member of our community 50 and over and their families, regardless of race, religion or economic level.

CSA offers to train seniors in the skills of active listening and the basic techniques of counseling. These volunteer lay counselors are then paired up with seniors in the community who have requested help in dealing with the challenges of aging. The magic occurs because one adult who may be dealing with issues of loss, loneliness, failing health and financial stress, is talking to someone of the same generation, with similar life experiences, who can provide the type of empathy and understanding that is so effective. Often the counselor benefits from the experience as much as the client.

Currently we have nearly 30 volunteer senior peer counselors who have completed a 60-hour training to be an individual peer counselor, many of whom have also participated in a second 16-hour training specifically for facilitating senior support groups. Currently we have 12 support groups at various locations throughout Santa Barbara, such as Braille Institute, Garden Court, Heritage House, Villa Santa Barbara, and Vista Del Monte, and the newest groups at Villa Caridad and Marvilla. In addition, our Betwixt and Between group provides adult children of aging parents, ?the Sandwich Generation', an opportunity to share issues and concerns in a safe confidential environment, and our group at Encina Royale provides a place for caregivers to share their specific challenges.

Three times a year, we present our ?Pro-Active Aging' educational series of 4 workshops each on various topics important to seniors and their families such as nutrition, preventing dementia and dealing with loss.

CSA continues to collaborate with educational institutions such as Antioch to provide student internships, and with professionals within the community to provide intake and assessment procedures.

The future is clear - this is the fastest growing segment of our population, with women being the majority, low-income seniors becoming the most critically affected, and the baby boomer generation entering the senior citizen population at 10,000 each day. The challenge is to be able to continue providing these critical services at no cost. The Center for Successful Aging exists completely on donations, grants and contributions, and remains dedicated to helping all seniors meet the trials and challenges of aging, successfully.

If you are interested in becoming a senior peer counselor, or of you or a loved one could benefit from talking with a peer counselor, or if you would like to find out more about our organization, please visit

www.csasb.org or give us a call at (805) 963.8080.

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