Service Program for Older People (SPOP) is a nonprofit community-based mental health agency that serves adults age 55 and older. It is one of only a handful of agencies in New York City that focus entirely on the
mental health needs of older people. SPOP's services include ''individual counseling, group therapy and support groups, mental health home visits, medication management, psychosocial assessment, family
counseling
Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes.
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and
caregiver support, information and referral and education''.
SPOP has received national awards from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association and AARP.
SPOP is known for its program of home visits to disabled clients and outreach through senior centers in Harlem, the Lower East Side, East Village and Yorkville neighborhoods of Manhattan. The clinic offers treatment in five languages. SPOP is also home to New York State's only PROS/Personalized Recovery Oriented Services program exclusively for older adults.
History
Originally called ''New York Service Program for Older People'', SPOP was founded in 1972 by a consortium of health care and social service providers that recognized the need for mental health services among the older population of
Manhattan’s West Side. Beginning as a program called ''Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.'', SPOP became an independent,
nonprofit organization in 1979 with funding from the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation & Alcoholism Services (now the
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene). In 2006, the agency’s name was changed to ''Service Program for Older People''.
Finance
Funding for SPOP is provided by city and state agencies;
Medicaid,
Medicare and private insurance reimbursements; fees, and the contributions of foundations, corporations and individual donors. SPOP is a member of
The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, which receives Federal grants. SPOP organization is a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
Public Charity.
References
{{reflist
Mental health organizations based in New York (state)