Keeping Ashland Healthy - Episode 128 – June is Elder Empowerment Month

Keeping Ashland Healthy - Episode 128 – June is Elder Empowerment Month

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and better mental health later in life? This conversation from Keeping Ashland Healthy zooms in on June as Elder Empowerment Month in Ashland County, and it’s especially relevant if you care about older adults’ wellbeing, connection and safety. Executive Director David Ross chats with colleague Elise Schrader about why the community now marks a whole month, not just World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on 15 June.

Instead of seeing seniors through a list of deficits, they highlight the idea that, as Elise puts it, “older adults are not defined by their needs. They are defined by their wisdom, their resilience, the lives they have influenced, and the lives they have built.” You’ll hear them talk honestly about isolation in later life – friends and spouses dying, children moving away, health changes – and how loneliness links with depression, anxiety and poorer physical health.

Rather than leaving it there, they go into practical ways to reconnect: a quick text about hummingbird feeders, a chat over the garden fence, or a visit to a neighbour on the porch.

The episode also walks through a packed, free community calendar for June: Golden Center talks about elder abuse and wellbeing, a scam-awareness session with the Ohio Attorney General’s office, local farmer’s markets as connection hubs, outdoor concerts at the Brookside Park band shell, the colourful BalloonFest at Freer Field, and low-cost pleasures like euchre games and fitness classes at the Council on Aging.

The tone stays light, with gentle humour and relatable stories, while constantly circling back to one core message: small, everyday contact can boost mental health, reduce risk, and support recovery for older adults and their families. If you know a senior – or you are one – what one simple connection could you plan for June?