34 | JULY 6 • 2023 

BUSINESS

J

ewish social worker 
Karen Faith Gordon 
spent many years 
supporting Metro Detroit’s 
older adult population before 
launching her own endeavor, 
Karen Faith LLC, which 
celebrated its ribbon cutting 
for its West Bloomfield 
location June 21.
With a long career in 
geriatrics, Gordon plans to 
use the space on 14 Mile and 
Middlebelt Road to provide 
mental health care for older 
adults, their families and 
their caregivers. There’s 
also an adjacent space she 
has, Elements, that’s used 
for group activities and 
community-building.
Gordon, a University 
of Michigan master’s of 
social work graduate, began 
her early career working 
at Jewish Federation 
Apartments, a senior living 

community.
“I was so blessed to have 
my own grandparents 
still alive well into my 
adulthood,” she recalls. “I 
would walk into the Jewish 
Federation Apartments, and 
it was like I had 300 more 
grandparents. It felt like 
home.”
Gordon, a longtime 
Jewish Senior Life employee, 
was also instrumental in 
helping older Soviet Jewish 
immigrants in the 1990s, 
many of whom sought out 
housing at Teitel Apartments 
in Oak Park.
She called working with 
Metro Detroit’s older Jewish 
population a “wonderful” 
experience.
“I’ve always loved to 
be among the older adult 
population,” Gordon, 55, of 
West Bloomfield, explains. 
Even as a child, Gordon’s 

family often joked that she 
was an “older soul.”
It was a mindset that stuck. 
“If we’re walking around the 
planet today, we’re becoming 
older by the minute,” Gordon 
explains. “Every single one of 
us. No one is exempt.”

CARING FOR ISOLATED 
OLDER ADULTS
During the COVID-19 
pandemic, when the need for 
mental health care for older 
adults became of the utmost 
importance, especially 
for older adults who were 
isolated, Gordon began 
planting the seed for Karen 
Faith LLC.
At the time, she was 
driving to see clients for 
home visits. “I went out on 
my own, and I had no office,” 
Gordon recalls. “People were 
calling me from all over, 
and I became busy pretty 

quickly.”
The pandemic only 
increased the need for 
services. “I had so many calls 
from people who live out of 
town who didn’t know when 
they would see their parents 
again,” she says. “Family 
members felt relieved that 
someone could go see their 
parents in their home and 
report back to them.”
Working as a conduit 
between families and older 
adults, Gordon realized 
the business wasn’t only 
an idea, but necessary and 
needed in the Metro Detroit 
community and beyond.
Recent data shows that at 
least one in four older adults 
experiences a mental disorder 
such as depression, anxiety 
or dementia. This number is 
expected to double by 2030 
as the current population 
continues to age.

Karen Faith LLC celebrates 
Karen Faith LLC celebrates 
West Bloomfield ribbon cutting.
West Bloomfield ribbon cutting.

 Mental 
Health Care 
for Older Adults

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTOS BY MELISSA DOUGLAS

Karen Faith 
Gordon at the 
recently opened 
Karen Faith LLC. 

