Statewide Skill-Building Symposium: Addressing Mental Health among Older Adults with HIV Recap - CHIPTS - Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services

In honor of HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day, the California Statewide HIV and Aging Educational Initiative in partnership with Santa Clara County Getting to Zero hosted the Statewide Skill-Building Symposium: Addressing Mental Health among Older Adults with HIV on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, from 8:30 AM-4:30 PM PT at the Orchard City Banquet Hall in Campbell, CA. This one-day, in-person symposium aimed to help equip California service providers and frontline staff to better address the mental health needs of older adults with HIV, including the unique needs of long-term survivors.

During the symposium, leading experts offered engaging, interactive presentations on the intersection of mental health and loneliness & isolation, physical & cognitive decline, substance use, and other key issues impacting older adults with HIV. View the agenda with recorded presentations linked for each presentation below. You can also view the complete set of recorded presentations in our Statewide Skill-Building Symposium YouTube Playlist.

8:30-9:00 AM	Check-In and Continental Breakfast
9:00-9:15 AM	Welcome and Opening Remarks California Statewide HIV and Aging Educational Initiative and Santa Clara County Getting to Zero
9:15-9:25 AM	Update from the Office of AIDS: HIV, Aging, and Mental Health Philip Peters, MD, Medical Officer, Office of AIDS, California Department of Public Health
9:25-10:10	Keynote Address — Four A’s of Caring for Our Elder HIV Community: Ask, Acknowledge, Advocate, and Amplify William Hua, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Executive Director, Alliance Health Project, UCSF
10:10-10:20 AM	Break
10:20-11:50 AM	Take Action on Loneliness and Isolation The What, When, Why & How of Loneliness Screening Paul Nash, PhD, Professor, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California Building an Effective Peer-Based Program: The Healing Power of Community Gregg Cassin, Founder/Facilitator, Honoring Our Experience, Shanti Project
11:50 AM-12:50 PM	Lunch
12:50-2:20 PM	Take Action on Physical and Cognitive Decline The Intersection of Physical and Mental Health in Older Persons Living with HIV Maile Young Karris, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health & Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care, UCSD Cognitive Functioning and Mental Health in Long-term HIV Survivors Linda M Ercoli, PhD, Clinical Geriatric Neuropsychologist and Interim Director, Longevity Center, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA
2:20-2:30 PM	Break
2:30-4:00 PM	Take Action on Taboo Topics: Sexual Health and Substance Use Am I Part of the Solution? HIV and Aging in the Context of Sexual Ageism Megan T. Ebor, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, San Diego State University Tackling Stigma and Providing Quality Care around Substance Use among Older Adults with HIV Siddarth Puri, MD, Medical Director, Behavioral Health and Drug and Alcohol Services, County of San Luis Obispo
4:00-4:20 PM	Local Reflections and Call to Action Harsha Ramchandani, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Bay Area Community Health (BACH)
4:20-4:30 PM	Closing Remarks California Statewide HIV and Aging Educational Initiative

The California Statewide HIV and Aging Educational Initiative is a collaborative capacity-building initiative led by CHIPTS, APLA Health, the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC)—LA and BANCC, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. If you have any questions, please contact Elena Rosenberg-Carlson at erosenberg-carlson@mednet.ucla.edu.