How Shared Wisdom Becomes an Antidote to Our Mental Health Emergency

The wisdom of elders has long been leveraged internationally as an asset to stabilizing communities.  The Friendship Bench project in Zimbabwe is such an example where the wisdom of elder women and grandmothers trained in therapeutic talk can help individual community members rise out of ‘kufungisisa’ (depression & anxiety) by creating safe spaces and a sense of belonging that improve mental wellbeing and enhance quality of life. 

The US mental health emergency continues to reach new heights. It has become increasingly urgent to disrupt the crisis with innovative tools to prevent the loss and disruption of more lives due to mental illness. In order to combat the mental health emergency in its current state, it’s imperative to rely on the shared collective wisdom and life experience of older adults which can be leveraged in new community initiated care models.

Utilizing Collective Wisdom as a Therapeutic Tool

Visible Hands Collaborative is executing a U.S. based launch of Integrative Community Therapy, borrowing from the Brazilian-born model known as Terapia Comunitária Integrativa, which is in practice in over 36 countries and has touched over 2 million lives. Like The Friendship Bench, Integrative Community Therapy (ICT) is a practice leveraging the wisdom and collective experience of many individuals brought together in a group setting and sharing intentional, safe conversations. 

Capturing the impact of group dynamics, ICT moderated conversations evoke coping strategies in each participant; those who may not share a specific condition or lived experience but do share common dilemmas.  Each person gains from the collective wisdom and life experiences of their peers and other participants, creating individual emotional literacy and fostering solidarity and connection within a community. These elements come together to ensure a healthy mental wellbeing.

The wisdom of aging, later life insights and reflections of experience can make older adults skilled pioneers of hope during our mental health emergency. Community initiated Care (CiC) models, such as the community conversations supported by trained community moderators demonstrated in ICT, are rapidly growing as new effective mental health options. 

Whether engaging as moderators, instructors or as participants of ICT, older adults with their wisdom and experience can become significant influencers in impacting greater community mental health.

Life experience becomes medicine. Wisdom becomes an antidote. Growing older becomes a community asset.