Join the Movement - NCALL - The National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life

Ageism can be a barrier to effectively responding to older victims by not taking older adults seriously when they report abuse, stripping autonomy and control away from victims when they report, and by the targeting of older adults by perpetrators.

This page offers educational resources created by NCALL as well as links to some recommended tools by leaders in the anti-ageism movement. Please join us now, to commemorate World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, in committing to understanding the harmful impacts of ageism and calling out ageist stereotypes that devalue and discredit older survivors of abuse. We invite you to view and share the contents of this page with your professional and personal networks.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Action Guide

In 2019, the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) and the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL) teamed up to create our first joint World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) Action Guide. This current edition brings into focus the issue of ageism in the context of elder abuse. It also includes ideas for ways to commemorate WEAAD, both in-person and virtually, offers considerations for increasing accessibility in your events, and provides more tools for your WEAAD outreach.

Anti-Ageism Resources

As part of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030), the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Campaign to Combat Ageism. The campaign builds off the accompanying Global Report on Ageism, identifying ageism as a universal barrier to everyone’s health, safety, dignity, and well-being.

Please click on an image below to access any of these important resources.

Cover for Quick Guide to Avoid Ageism in Communication



Old School, an online anti-ageism clearinghouse, offers a carefully curated and continuously updated selection of podcasts, publications, and other tools aimed at exposing and eradicating ageism.

National Center to Reframing Aging provides communication strategies and tools to effectively frame aging issues. Led by the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), it strives to cultivate an active community of individuals and organizations to spread awareness of implicit bias toward older people and influence policies and programs that benefit all of us as we age.

Interactive Exercises

NCALL designed these interactive exercises to help get participants engaged in trainings on abuse in later life and elder abuse and to help them recognize some of the unique challenges faced by older survivors of abuse.

Age and Assumptions: An Exercise for Domestic Violence Advocates Highlighting How Ageist Assumptions Impact Our Work

Aging and Ageism: A Warm-Up Exercise to Explore Participants’ Perceptions about Aging

Selected Resources for Working with Older Survivors

	*Collaborating for Justice for Older African Americans Guide* aims to equip professionals working with older adults to build stronger and more equitable collaborations with the African American community and culturally-specific programs in order to offer supportive services that account for an older survivor’s identity and history.
	*Increasing Access to Healing Services and Just Outcomes for Older African American Crime Survivors* offers victim services providers and criminal justice systems stakeholders information and practical strategies to enhance their capacity to identify, reach, and serve older African American victims.
	*Reclaiming What is Sacred: Addressing Harm to Indigenous Elders and Developing a Tribal Response to Abuse in Later Life* is designed to help tribal communities create or enhance their response to harm to elders in their community.
	Rural Domestic and Sexual Abuse Program Advocates: Making a Difference in The Lives of Older Survivors of Abuse is a resource for rural domestic and sexual abuse service programs. It offers suggested strategies for serving older survivors in rural areas, including ideas for tailoring services in domestic and sexual violence programs to better meet the needs of marginalized populations in rural communities.
	Domestic Violence Across the Lifespan: Supporting Older Survivors examines the unique dynamics and barriers that older survivors of domestic abuse experience and offers recommendations for tailored service and systems responses to better support older survivors.
	Sexual Abuse in Later Life: Believing and Supporting Older Survivors aims to define sexual abuse in later life, describe the unique issues faced by older survivors of sexual abuse, discuss the barriers older survivors face in accessing safety and healing, and examine why sexual abuse in later life falls under the radar and offer some strategies and resources for supporting older survivors.
	Stalking in Later Life Resource Sheet provides information on common stalking tactics, the impacts of stalking on victims, the unique challenges about cases of stalking in later life, and resources for support.

Videos

These videos, which address some ways to build or enhance supports for older survivors of abuse, are part of larger video series created by NCALL and Terra Nova Films with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women and Elder Justice Initiative in 2016. Other videos from this series may be viewed on NCALL’s YouTube Channel.

Click any image below to launch the corresponding video on YouTube.

Adapting Emergency Shelters	Advocates and APS	Advocates and Substitute Decision Makers
Tips on adapting emergency housing/shelters to meet the needs of older victims. Video presenters: Alice Ghareib, Kathi Church, and LaTrice Buck. 4:50	Discussion of the role of APS and working with advocates. Video presenters: Ricker Hamilton, Deborah Holt-Knight, Karla Vierthaler, and Lisa Furr. 5:34	Discussion of advocates’ role working with victims who have a substitute decision maker. Video presenters: Alicia Aiken and Rebecca Henry. 3:06
Benefits of Support Groups for Older Victims	Budget Line Items to Address the Needs of Older Victims	Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere for Older Victims
An overview of the benefits of peer support groups for older victims of abuse. Video presenters: Sue Hall Dreher, Alice Ghareib, and LaTrice Buck. 4:22	Budget line considerations for improving services and access for older adults. Video presenters: Sue Hall Dreher, LaTrice Buck, and Alice Ghareib. 4:03	Creating a welcoming atmosphere for older victims. Video presenters: Sue Hall Dreher, Amy Judy, Alice Ghareib, LaTrice Buck, and Vicky Ybanez. 7:24
Empowerment	Enhancing Agency Policies	Inviting Older Survivors to Review Policies and Practices
Defining empowerment and what it means in the context of older victims. Video presenters: Anne Menard, Karla Vierthaler, Sue Hall Dreher, Evelyn Laureano, and Alice Ghareib. 4:03	Tips on reviewing, creating, and enhancing agency policies to address serving victims across the lifespan. Video presenter: Bonnie Brandl. 2:51	Strategies to engage older adults to learn from them how to improve our services and outreach. Video presenters: Anne Menard and Sue Hall Dreher. 3:53
Listening to and Working with Older Victims	Older Survivors Who Want to Share Their Stories	Working with Older Victims, Aged 50-62
Practical communication strategies when working with older victims. Video presenters: Alicia Aiken, Evelyn Laureano, Alice Ghareib, Ricker Hamilton, and LaTrice Buck. 6:29	Strategies for working with older survivors who may want to share their lived experience with the public. Video presenters: Bonnie Brandl, Lisa Furr, and Anne Menard. 5:55	Some unique issues and challenges faced by older survivors, aged 50-62 years old. Video presenters: Ann Turner, Alice Ghareib, and LaTrice Buck. 3:06