How to Respond to Colleague's Apparent Ageism Toward a Client

1. Read topic: Debate the following scenario…
You have been working with a colleague concerning a mutual older adult client who seems somewhat confused and disoriented. Your colleague states that she intends to recommend to the mental health clinic team that the client be denied services because the client is "old and senile" and therefore cannot benefit from clinic services.
& Role-play how you would respond to your colleague's apparent ageism toward the client.
2. Read classmates response to topic, there are 2 separate posts
classmate1: I think it is entirely unfair to dismiss a client as “old and senile” based solely on moments of confusion and disorientation. We cannot assume that our client is outside of the bounds of help just because they have been disoriented lately. It is important to remember that even those in their 20s can have seasons of forgetfulness due to stress or some kind of trauma in their lives. Kicking them out based solely on a little disorientation is unjust. I would tell my colleague that our best next step would be to include the mental health clinic team in our next visit with the client to have them evaluate the patient's state. This helps the client receive care in the meantime and it helps us and our clinic truly learn to identify whether or not we are capable of caring for the client. This course of action also helps us to establish ourselves as a clinic who makes decisions slowly and intentionally for the best of our clients.
classmate 2: Old and senile, while calling someone old is completely objective, senility is not. It is a medical term with an agreed upon definition. It is unfair to place any medical definition on an individual without being qualified to do so, and without understanding the implications of placing that label on someone. If I were to try to explain the internet to most anyone over the age of 65 they would be confused and disoriented. If someone over the age of 90 explained the process of loading and maintaining a World War 2 Navy aircraft catapult, most teenagers would feel the same way.
That being said, there are individuals who would not benefit from certain services because they suffer from senility. These individuals have a rite to the best help they can get, and if their mental health status does not allow for some things, others may be more beneficial. Making a recommendation to the mental health team does no harm to the individual, and if the team finds that they do fit the criteria, there may be better ways to serve them
3. what you write: Respond to both classmates post with a counter-argument. keep them separate.