Removing the Ageist Lens: Looking at the Law to Address Trauma, Abuse and the Older Adult

Understanding trauma and its impact is critical to effective and efficient lawyering. Traumatic experiences can have profound and lasting cognitive and behavioral effects, and legal proceedings are rife with trauma triggers and the potential for retraumatization. For the attorney representing older adult clients, these symptoms can be compounded as well as obscured by the effects of ageism and a plethora of societal biases concerning older adults. Understanding how these cultural forces impact legal frameworks is critical in assisting victims. In this course, presented by Deirdre Lok and Glendalee Olivera of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Justice, attorneys will learn how to identify, understand, and effectively represent an older adult who has experienced trauma in a variety of legal fora. A case study will be used as a tool to practice lessons learned, and multidisciplinary community resources will be shared.   

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the various types of elder abuse
2. Acquire a basis for deepening the understanding of older adults and trauma, and the manifestation of trauma in an older adult's health
3. Explore how ageist views can bias the responses to older adults in crisis
4. Examine how the attorney-client relationship can be enhanced with the tools to trauma-informed lawyering