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.