title: Addressing elder abuse: the Waterloo restorative justice approach to elder abuse project.
abstract: The Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) of Waterloo Region, in partnership with a number of other social service agencies, designed and implemented a restorative justice model applicable to older adults who have been abused by an individual in a position of trust. The project was very successful in building partnerships, as many community agencies came together to deal with the problem of elder abuse. The program also raised the profile of elder abuse in the community. However, despite intensive efforts, referrals to the restorative justice program were quite low. Because of this, the program moved to a new organizational model, the Elder Abuse Response Team (EART), which has retained the guiding philosophy of restorative justice but has broadened the mandate. The team has evolved into a conflict management system that has multiple points of entry for cases and multiple options for dealing with elder abuse. The team has developed a broad range of community partners who can facilitate referrals to the EART and also can help to provide an individualized response to each case. The transition to the EART has been successful, and the number of referrals has increased significantly.
authors.affiliation: Healing Approaches for Elder Abuse and Mistreatment, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Arlene
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groh
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Linden
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D015397:Program Evaluation; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012944:Social Support; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*