Older Adult Counseling Center (OACC)

The Older Adult Counseling Center is housed within the Psychology Services Center at USC.  We are a non-profit service delivering high quality care to older adults and their families.  If you are a client or family member interested in our services, please call the main clinic number (213-740-1600) to complete a screening and ask any questions you might have.  If you are a healthcare provider and are interested in referring a client, please call (213-740-1600) to inquire!

  • We offer therapeutic services for older adults and their families to help:

    • Older couples facing changes in their relationship, e.g., when one has a serious physical illness or disability
    • Loss and bereavement
    • Families caring for an older adult with cognitive impairment
    • Other issues that challenge older individuals and their families
    • Your therapist will spend the first few sessions to get a “big picture” look at how you are doing and your life. This helps us decide what type of treatment will help you the most. In some cases, we learn we are unable to offer the type of treatment that would be best for you. If that happens, you will be referred to another service in the area that will be more effective for you.
    • We think it is important to offer therapy supported by science.The research tends to show it is helpful to choose specific goals to work toward in treatment, and to try to use the therapy time as helpfully as possible. Usually, sessions are scheduled once per week for 50 minutes. For some types of concerns, we may suggest more frequent (e.g., 2 times per week) or longer sessions (e.g., 90 minutes). Group therapy sessions are typically 1.5 to 2 hours per week, for a specified number of weeks (usually 6 to 10 weeks).