FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2026 — Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Privacy-First Smart Home Firm Adds Age Safe America Credential to Round Out a Three-Framework Home Safety Practice
Senior Home Safety Specialist® (SHSS) Seal
Cherry Hill, NJ — Ashley Williams, founder of Serenity Smart Homes, is now one of a select group of professionals nationwide to earn the Senior Home Safety Specialist® (SHSS) designation from Age Safe® America. The SHSS designation identifies her as a home safety consultant with the knowledge necessary to help educate older adults and family members on the serious issues of home safety, fall prevention, personal safety, and financial exploitation.
The SHSS course is the only designation of its kind in the senior services industry. Graduates include occupational and physical therapists, home care providers, aging-in-place professionals, contractors, senior living staff, EMS professionals, caregivers, and home safety consultants committed to helping older adults stay safe in their own homes. Age Safe America developed the program to give professionals a structured way to educate older adults and families to make preparations now that protect ongoing freedom and independence.
Approximately one in three adults aged 65 or older falls in their home each year, resulting in injury, long-term disability, and premature loss of independence. By 2030, the CDC estimates the annual cost of fall-related injuries will approach $100 billion. Every 11 seconds an older adult is treated in an emergency room for a fall-related injury, and every 19 minutes an older adult dies from a fall. Most of these falls happen at home, and many are preventable.
According to an AARP survey, nearly 90% of seniors have stated a strong desire to remain in their own home. Yet studies show that 85% have done nothing to prepare their homes for it. Preparation is the difference between successfully aging in place and reacting to a crisis.
"Falls are not inevitable. They happen when the home stops working for the person living in it — a dark hallway, a slick bathroom floor, a step the resident no longer sees the same way. The SHSS curriculum sharpens my ability to assess those specific risk patterns and give families a written plan that names the priorities, not just the problems. I look forward to helping more households across South Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Northern Delaware prepare their homes so independence can continue on the terms the resident actually wants."
Where Senior Home Safety Meets Privacy-First Smart Home Technology
Ashley Williams brings more than 20 years of cybersecurity and network infrastructure experience to Serenity Smart Homes, a Cherry Hill-based firm serving clients across New Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Northern Delaware in-person, with remote consulting available nationally. Serenity specializes in privacy-first smart home automation that runs entirely on local control: no cloud dependency for safety-critical functions, no monthly subscription fees, no surveillance-style monitoring of the people who live in the home.
The SHSS designation rounds out a three-framework home safety practice that also includes CAPS (Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist, NAHB) and CLIPP™ (Certified Living In Place Professional™, Living In Place Institute). Together, these three frameworks let Serenity approach senior home safety the way it actually shows up in real households: a combination of physical home modification, smart home technology, and behavioral and routine support. Services relevant to senior home safety clients include:
- 230-point home safety and aging-in-place assessments delivered as a written, prioritized plan
- Fall prevention recommendations across entries, bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and circulation paths
- Motion-activated lighting and automated routines that reduce nighttime fall risk
- Leak detection, smoke and CO sensing, and environmental monitoring that catches problems before they become injuries
- Caregiver alert configurations that respect resident privacy and family peace of mind
- Coordination with occupational therapists, physicians, and contractors so the plan gets executed
About Serenity Smart Homes
Serenity Smart Homes is a privacy-first home safety and smart home consultancy based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, serving clients across NJ, Southeastern PA, and Northern DE for in-person work, with remote consulting available nationally. Founded by Ashley Williams — a cybersecurity and network infrastructure veteran with more than 20 years of enterprise experience — Serenity builds smart home systems that are locally controlled, subscription-free, and designed to last. I am a consultant, not an integrator: I assess first, recommend second, and coordinate implementation with the right people on the ground.
Serenity's core audiences include adults and families planning ahead for aging-in-place, households with neurodivergent members, multigenerational households, and short-term rental operators seeking honest accessibility audits. The firm holds NJ SBE and MWBE certifications, is a Loxone Silver Partner, NJ HIC Licensed, and maintains active CEDIA membership.
Credentials: SHSS (Senior Home Safety Specialist, Age Safe America), CAPS (Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist, NAHB), CLIPP™ C00967 (Certified Living In Place Professional™)
Website: www.serenitysmarthomesnj.com
Service Area: New Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, Northern Delaware; Remote Consulting Nationwide
About Age Safe® America
Age Safe® America is a national membership, training, advocacy, and services organization dedicated to meeting the growing need for home safety assessments and aging-in-place home modifications. Its Senior Home Safety Specialist® program is the only designation of its kind in the senior services industry. To learn more, visit agesafeamerica.com.
Media Contact
Ashley Williams, SHSS, CAPS, CLIPP™
Serenity Smart Homes
Cherry Hill, NJ
www.serenitysmarthomesnj.com
Questions About SHSS Certification and Senior Home Safety
Older adults wanting to stay in their homes, and adult children supporting them from near or far, often ask the same questions when they start thinking about fall prevention and home safety. Here are the ones I hear most.
A Senior Home Safety Specialist (SHSS) is a professional certified by Age Safe America to assess older adults' homes for the leading risks to safety and independence: fall hazards, fire and emergency preparedness, personal safety, and financial exploitation. The SHSS designation is the only credential of its kind in the senior services industry. Graduates include occupational and physical therapists, home care providers, aging-in-place professionals, contractors, senior living staff, EMS professionals, caregivers, and home safety consultants committed to helping older adults stay safe in their own homes.
The SHSS curriculum is structured around the actual risk patterns that drive injury and loss of independence for older adults. It covers fall prevention across every room of the home, fire and emergency preparedness, medication safety, personal safety against scams and financial exploitation, and the home and lifestyle factors that determine whether a senior can age in place safely. The training equips a credentialed specialist to conduct a structured safety walkthrough and produce a prioritized written plan a household can actually act on.
Falls have become epidemic. Approximately one in three adults aged 65 and older falls in their home each year, resulting in injury, long-term disability, and premature loss of independence. According to widely cited public health figures, every 11 seconds an older adult is treated in an emergency room for a fall-related injury, and every 19 minutes an older adult dies from a fall. The CDC estimates that the cost of fall-related injuries will approach $100 billion per year by 2030. Most of these falls happen at home, and many are preventable with the right combination of modifications, lighting, and technology.
Smart home technology supports fall prevention by addressing the conditions that cause falls before someone gets hurt, rather than only responding after a fall has happened. Practical examples include motion-activated pathway lighting that eliminates dark hallways at 2 AM, leak detection that prevents wet floors before they become a hazard, automated routines that reduce the cognitive load of remembering to turn things off, and voice-controlled lighting and locks so the resident does not have to navigate to a switch in a risky moment. A privacy-first smart home runs on local control, so the safety functions keep working even when the internet goes out.
A medical alert system is reactive. It calls for help after a fall has already happened. A senior home safety assessment is proactive. It looks at the home, the daily routines, and the technology ecosystem together, and produces a written plan to reduce the risk of falls and other safety events in the first place. Both have a role, and many of my clients use both. The assessment is what tells you which modifications and technology choices will actually move the needle for the person living in this specific home.
Serenity Smart Homes provides in-person senior home safety and aging-in-place assessments across New Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Northern Delaware, with Cherry Hill, NJ as its home base. Remote assessments are available nationally for adult children calling from out of state about a parent's home and for households outside the in-person service area. The starting point is a free 30-minute discovery call. The call exists to determine whether the engagement is the right fit, with no commitment on either side.