World Elder Abuse Awareness Day June 15th.

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June 2025

Chris Herman, MSW, LICSW

Senior Practice Associate–Aging

Don’t Be Defeated Before You Begin

In recent months, many of us have been asking ourselves, “What can I do to make a difference? I’m just one person.” We are witnessing the effects of federal actions on the people we serve and within our organizations, communities, and personal circles. We feel overwhelmed by the daily barrage of news, the scores of calls we could make to policymakers, and the number of meetings and protests we could attend or plan.

Under these circumstances, getting involved in World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD, observed annually on June 15) might feel impossible. Yet, each of us can do at least one thing to enhance awareness—whether in ourselves, our colleagues, our clients, or others in our lives—of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation (hereafter, “elder abuse”). This publication provides ideas and free resources to help you achieve that goal, even in five minutes or less.

WEAAD Is Relevant to All of Us

The ability to live free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation at any age is integral to a just society. Likewise, living free of abuse as we age is congruent with our profession’s core values of social justice and dignity and worth of the person (NASW Code of Ethics, 2021; https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics). As social workers, we may encounter people who experience elder abuse or who engage in abusive behavior toward older adults in any setting. Similarly, we play integral roles in developing, implementing, and strengthening social supports that help prevent and address elder abuse, even if our work doesn’t focus specifically on elder abuse or older adults.

For these reasons, observing World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) each year is important. This observance centers on the theme Building Strong Support for Elders and has three goals:

• increasing awareness about elder abuse (which can include neglect, financial abuse–exploitation, and physical, sexual, or emotional–psychological abuse)

• fostering action by individuals, organizations, and communities to identify, prevent, and address elder abuse

• reaffirming our society’s commitment to the principle of justice for all—that we should all be able to live free from abuse at every age

In the United States, WEAAD is led by the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), which is funded by the federal Administration for Community Living (ACL) and housed at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. The NCEA–ACL WEAAD microsite, available at https://eldermistreatment.usc.edu/weaad-home/, includes information and resources that each of us can use to participate in WEAAD.

WEAAD-related activities occur throughout the month, enabling each of us to do one thing for WEAAD 2025. Let’s start with actions that take the least amount of time and energy.