PACOIMA : Senior Citizens Learn to Be Peer Counselors

Nellie Lopez, 81, offers a simple reason for learning to help fellow senior citizens by becoming a peer counselor.

“We don’t want to be forgotten. We want to be loved,” said Lopez, one of 10 senior citizens who learned to listen, “love and hug” during a 12-week training program.

The senior citizens, who will put their skills to work at the Pacoima Senior Citizens Multipurpose Center, were recognized during a short graduation ceremony at the Pledgerville senior housing development in Pacoima this week.

The Rev. Alicia Broadous-Duncan, the center’s director, said she chose the system under which senior citizens counsel each other because the center cannot afford to hire professionals.

The peer counselors will help guide senior citizens dealing with traumatic problems, such as the loss of a spouse. “The whole thing is about empowering the clients to make their own decisions,” Broadous-Duncan, said.

Joyce Feinberg, a community outreach coordinator with an organization called Senior Health and Peer Counseling, said the training program is patterned after a federally funded program called Project Rebound. That program was started in the wake of last year’s riots to address the mental health needs of senior citizens.

“These people are prepared to handle how to listen the right way, how to ask questions and help people see their way through,” said Feinberg, who spoke briefly to the graduates.

When Lopez received her certificate, she waved it excitedly.

“I’m so happy. Here I am getting a diploma at 81 years old,” she said.