Deciding on a career working with older adults, or perhaps more specifically Geropsychology involves understanding the types of settings where you might find this population. Perhaps the best place to start is in long-term care, as it is usually what people imagine when they think of Geropsychology (I will hopefully inform this notion a bit better!)
Long-term care facilities are, in a nutshell, places where anyone who may need skilled nursing services can live with the level of care they need. This means that you might encounter residents who are not older adults, but they are in need of nursing care. Not only is nursing care provided, but commonly social work, dietary services, recreational services, chaplain services, psychological services, and of course holistic medical care.
Long-term care homes are typically referred to as skilled nursing facilities or SNF’s (pronounced “sniff’) by those working in these integrated care settings. Yes! That’s right! Working with older adults in these settings is considered integrated care. This is another advantage to doing this type of clinical work, not only do you get exposure to work with older adults, you also learn about functioning in your professional role within a group of other providers from various disciplines. Check out Psychologists in Long-Term Care (PLTC) as this is a great place to start exploring this option and they provide a wealth of resources about this very special work.
You may ask, what exactly does the term “older adults” mean? Well, it generally is meant to refer to adults 55 years of age and older. Using the term “older adults” is generally received as more acceptable than “elderly,” or “senior,” but there is no hard and fast rule about which term to use. As the awareness around the culture of being an older adult grows, so do appropriate evidence-based treatments, considerations in assessment, and expectations around what “normal” functioning look like.