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Spirituality, Wellness and the “Silver Tsunami”

Implications for Counseling

Mary Finn Maples

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What is the “Silver Tsunami”?

The term, “Silver Tsunami” was coined by this author in 2002 (Maples, 2002) and referred to the Baby-Boomer generation, those 76,000,000 persons who would begin celebrating their 60 th birthdays in 2006. According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP, 2007), each day in the year 2007 sees 8,000 persons reaching the age of 60. That, potentially, equates to 292,000 persons in one generation, over 60 years of age, in addition to those born in 1946, who turned 60 in 2006. Only recently have counseling literature and training programs begun to recognize the vast impact that this generation will have upon our profession and our practitioners. Yet, ironically, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), which had accredited only three Gerontological counselor education programs in 2006, eliminated that area of accreditation entirely in the draft of the 2009 Standards Manual, at a time when increased training of counselors of persons in mature adulthood is crucial. While baby-boomers do not meet the general stereotype of sitting in rocking chairs and watching the world go by, they may need unique forms of counseling, because of their differences from earlier generations. How then, is the Silver Tsunami different from prior generations? According to Maples and Abney (2006), Baby-Boomers are unlike their parents and grandparents in the following ways:

• Baby-Boomers are in greater physical health than the generations preceding them (Zaposky, 2003).

• Baby-Boomers are more highly educated with different quality of life expectations that come with exposure to higher education.

• Baby-Boomers (the Silver Tsunami) hold worldviews vastly different because they were raised in a country at relative peace and have not been exposed to a global war. Moreover, these worldviews have encouraged them to expand their attention to and views of their own spirituality, allowing them to focus as well on their physical, emotional, mental and financial health. Mass media, technological advances and extensive personal and professional travel have had a broadening impact upon them. Combined with the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population being those over 85, and those in between it is no wonder that the mass media are appealing to older persons.

• Baby-Boomers, in general, have not experienced the same struggles and deprivations wrought by the Second World War and the Great Depression as their parents and grandparents did.

• Technology has allowed this well-educated generation to see the world as it can be rather than it is currently.

• They are the highest percentage of investors in the stock market.

• Fifty-one percent are women and the highest percentage of unmarrieds in history.

Further discussion of differences in Baby-Boomers from other generations was introduced by Booth and Brockway (2006) who suggested that

• They are living longer.

• They have lower rates of disability.

• They are achieving higher levels of education.

• They are living less in poverty.

• They have and are experiencing more change in family structures than their predecessors.

• They are taking better care of themselves, physically and financially.

Spirituality and the Silver Tsunami

The author, in presenting over 30 workshops and programs on spirituality in adults, invariably hears a participant (or several) offer up front “I do not believe in religion!” “Are you going to be selling the Bible to us?”, or a variety of similar questions related to religion. It is important for the reader to understand the various definitions of spirituality, especially as it relates to Baby-Boomers. Because they are, in general, more educated than those who preceded them, their definitions might be somewhat different. In 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007, this author surveyed in excess of 1,000 program participants at ACES, ACA, AADA and ACCA national conferences. The programs were all related to Spirituality in Adult Development (Maples, ACA, 2002), Spirituality, Wellness and Baby-Boomers (Maples, AADA, 2003), Holistic Adult Development and Spirituality (Maples & Miranti, ACCA, 2006), and Spirituality, Wellness and Baby-Boomers (Maples & Dupey, ACA, 2007). We found a variety of descriptions or definitions among Baby- Boomers that included:

“The state quality or fact of being spiritual”; “the actuality of being human-breath of life activated”; “personhood, that which gives meaning to life”; “pertaining to or having the nature of spirit-supernatural”; “the transcendence that I seek”; “the beauty of nature”; “the value I place on human life” (authors anonymous, 2002; 2003; 2005; 2006).

Finally, having collated hundreds of responses to the question: Define or describe “Spirituality”, the following is offered as a potential descriptor, for application in this paper: Spirituality is that intangible essence that brings and maintains meaning in one’s life. It is larger andmore encompassing than religion, though religion can be seen by choice as an aspect of spirituality. Spirituality is global, deeply personal and intense. It is always present, but not necessarily consciously acknowledged. Finally, it is that essence that separates humanity from other aspects of the natural world (Maples, 2007).

This description, again, is a compilation of many of the definitions given by various Baby-Boomers in a variety of ACA and Divisional presentations in Spirituality since 2002. Additionally, as early as 1995, the Association for Spirituality, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) conducted a Summit on Spirituality. During that weekend, it was determined that spirituality could not be “defined”, but only “described” because of its personal nature to each individual.

According to Musick, Traplagan, Koenig and Larson (2000), 88.7% of adults aged 55 and older describe themselves as having moderate to high levels of both religiousness and spirituality. Also, Lewis (2001) states that more than younger adults, those over 55 report that spirituality is important in their lives. This view seems to coincide with those of the workshop participants noted above. Lewis (2001) notes that regardless of suggested declines in formal religious activity, involvement in personal aspects of spirituality tend to remain stable or actually increase as one ages.

Wellness and the Silver Tsunami

As evidence of Baby-Boomers’ potential need for counseling in later years, especially related to their physical, emotional and mental health, consider the following. On October 20, 2006, The Sacramento Business Journal featured an article entitled: “Aging Boomers Look to Reinvent Themselves” (Robertson, 2006). The author researched the numbers and percentages of four generations of Californians in state government employ. While her article reinforced much of the research already in print concerning Baby-Boomers, one graph was eye-catching. Robertson stated that 55% of the California state government workers were Baby-Boomers and she also noted that 13% of those still full- timers in that workforce were Baby-Boomers’ parents (Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation, 1998). This fact, in itself may be amazing. However, Robertson’s research reinforces a study conducted by Maples (2006), related to Baby-Boomers (and older) who do not want to retire. In this study, a group of eight full-time working business, administrators, organization managers and senior university professors, whose average age was 68 (range 57-82) were invited to participate in a counseling group to discuss the impact of retirement on their future lives. Robertson (2006) noted that “people who leave the workforce will have a 14-hour gap in their typical day to fill” (p. 73). All of these group members were in excellent physical health, but it became clear in the first of eight group sessions, that they had concerns about their mental, emotional and relationship health if they were to retire. Finances were not an issue. When asked in the beginning session: “What one word would you use to describe your feeling about your own possible retirement from the workforce?” From the eight members came four words: “Fear”, “Confusion”, “Anguish” and “Frustration”. The subsequent seven sessions dealt with that 14-hour gap that they might face if they retire. The three major issues that emerged from this “transition” experience (named so by the group because they chose not to identify with the word “retirement”):

• mental, emotional and physical health

• spirituality and meaning in life

• developing meaningful activities and relationships, if a partner or spouse were to predecease them.

Implications for Counseling

According to Blazer (1991) and Holt and Dellman-Jenkins (1992) specifically, for older adults spirituality (and religion) are associated with a myriad of mental health and physical benefits. For example, spirituality has been described as a buffer against depression, a way to maintain meaning at the end of life (as cited in Lewis, 2001). Further, many state that spirituality has been linked to positive physical health and inversely related to physical illnesses (Miller and Thoreson, 1999; Musick et al., 2000; Richards and Bergin, 1997). While older adults, those parents of baby-boomers tend to be reluctant to seek counseling or psychotherapy because of the worldviews in which they became adults, Zarit and Knight (1996) noted that the upcoming group of older adults (Baby-Boomers) may be more familiar with and open to counseling and/or therapy. These authors also cite the necessity for trained counselors with an arsenal of counseling techniques and interventions useful for older adults. Lewis (2001) sees that the growing trends in demographics and changing attitudes towards counseling suggest that the applications of spirituality and wellness in counseling baby-boomers will need to play an integral role in working with them.

Theories, Models and Curricula for Counseling Spiritually Well Baby-Boomers

Theories – Positive Approaches

Capuzzi and Gross (2002) offered several group theories and approaches applicable to aging baby-boomers from a positive perspective. They suggested the possibilities of reality orientation, milieu therapy, reminiscence groups, an extension of the life review and remotivation therapy, designed to focus on new aspects of future lives, not built on past motivation.

Kastenbaum (1992) focused on creativity in later years, mainly because of baby- boomers’ uniqueness from earlier generations, their expanse of education, their world travel and their lack of opportunity to use their creative skills in their earlier lives. He also suggested that counselors understand the meaning and functions of creativity in later years. Chesser (2003) enhances the application of their attitudes toward counseling, suggesting that aging well is a matter of attitude and Ponzo (1992) suggested capitalizing on their positivism in considering their futures.

Models

Perhaps one of the most comprehensive “models” to use in dealing with spirituality and wellness in older adults is the “spiritual life review”, described by Lewis (2001) to “facilitate positive counseling outcomes with spiritual clients” (p. 234). Lewis describes the spiritual life review as an adaptation of the life review techniques initially developed in the 60s by Robert Butler (1963). Butler’s work focused on the development of Erickson’s stage of “integrity vs. despair” (Erickson, 1997). In the field of counseling, Weiss (1995) combined the Life Review with an application of Cognitive Therapy. Wilber (2006) suggests a model that seems to appeal to Baby-Boomers called the transformation process. He defines transformation as the spiritual development that results in the ability and willingness to reject and challenge worldviews that are deemed legitimate or even “preferred”. The question is preferred by whom? Wilber (2007) also suggests in what is becoming known as “Integral Therapy” (Wilber, 2007).

Curricula

Perhaps one of the most prominent, as well as positive approaches to developing curricula for training counselors to work in a spiritual well-being counseling atmosphere, has been espoused by Jane Myers (1996; 2003). In her 1996 text: Competencies for Gerontological Counseling, she stresses training counselors to focus on wellness in older adults. More recently, Langer (2004) in her research on aging baby-boomers demonstrates the power of acknowledging older adults’ resiliency and spiritual resources in a counseling relationship and places a strong emphasis on assets, positive attitudes, and abilities (reminiscent of Chesser’s abilities and attitudes, Kastenbaum’s creativity and Ponzo’s positivism) while minimizing problems and pathologies. Langer suggests her strength – focused approach to spirituality and wellness counseling in older adults as:

• equanimity – balancing the spiritual and wellness perspectives and experiences of the client

• perseverance – encouraging the older client to develop the self-drive to keep going, accept and meet the challenges of reconstructing one’s life when physical, emotional or spiritual adversity

• self-reliance–believing in oneself, especially following the loss of spouse or partner. It is critical that the counselor facilitate spiritual and wellness growth in this client who is now alone, a corporation of one, in a sense, who for any number of years has been in a partnership.

• emotional aloneness– this necessarily follows # 3. It is important to help the client, spiritually and actively, to find resources that may allow wanted aloneness but to encourage reaching out to others, at the appropriate time.

• meaningfulness – Spirituality or making meaning out of goals, aspirations, future thinking, physical exercise and experiences, leave individuals, according to Langer, capable of achieving personal growth and life satisfaction.

As with curricula for any discipline, assessment should be a feature of courses in spirituality and wellness. The Fetzer Institute, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institutes of Health describe an assessment tool entitled the Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality for Use in Health Research. This instrument, according to Wilber (2007), measures the fundamental dimensions of spirituality as related to mental and physical health.

Finally, in 1995 and 1996, the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) conducted two Summits on Spirituality. From those Summits, the participants struggled with acceptable definitions of spirituality. Globally stated (as noted earlier in this paper) Piedmont (1999) suggested that the transcendent nature of human spirituality “refers to the capacity of individuals to stand outside of their immediate sense of time and place to view life from a larger, more objective perspective” (p. 6). If one’s spirituality in the world of Baby-Boomers provides a sense of connection to life, to nature, to physical mental and emotional well-being, then the outcome can and may go beyond the limits of one’s own biological mortality, and Baby-Boomers may be the longest surviving generation in the history of the U.S.

Conclusion

This paper has focused on the importance of spirituality and wellness in counseling the 76,000,000 baby-boomers who will need such assistance in the next 20 years. I have attempted to cite the differences in this group from other generations. A couple of models, some approaches and some new opportunities for this group have been shared. It is clear that new competencies in dealing with this unique population, especially in their spiritual and health well-being can be utilized extensively.

Finally, it is appropriate to close with a quote from a bit of humor from a well-known baby-boomer: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work: I want to achieve immortality by not dying.” - by Woody Allen