Abstract:

The story of a widow, age 82 & living alone, is presented to point out potential problems with the traditional case management plan implemented by many community-based assistance programs for the aging. The case addresses the question of what one can do when community services fail to improve the client's emotional, physical, & functional well-being. The answer may lie in the neglect of the individual's need for vital involvement with life. Ability balance is proposed as a productive basis for working with the elderly to identify detriments to their well-being that must be alleviated as well as attributes that may be accessed to actively engage the individual with his or her environment. Utilizing the individual assets enables him or her to develop & maintain a healthy & vital identity.