During the prolonged pandemic shutdown, a Gwinnett County teenager found a way to break through the isolation and calm the fears of older adults.
Jean Yu of Peachtree Corners founded Mindful Companions and became a constant, compassionate virtual visitor with seniors when they needed it the most.
She held weekly Zoom concerts and mindfulness lessons for residents in senior living communities. Jean took their online music requests and learned new songs on her violin, such as “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.”
She gave holiday-themed performances and showed nature photography that she took herself. Jean wanted to hear how their day went and to sing Happy Birthday to those celebrating another year’s passage.
“It was really meaningful to me just to see once you got started just how comfortable it was talking with the elderly and that they would share a lot about themselves and their experiences,” she said.
These intergenerational conversations have continued, now in person, and expanded to other states. Mindful Companions has served 65 senior communities across the United States through mindfulness and music. Mindfulness is the practice of calming the mind and being aware.
Jean, 18, now a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), continues to visit seniors and recently brought handmade Veterans Day cards for residents at the Hebrew Senior Life in Brookline, MA.
“It was such a wonderful experience for me since I had volunteered with this senior center virtually through the pandemic with my mindfulness sessions, but this was the first time I was visiting in person,” said Jean.
Back home, students at Jean’s former high school, the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, have taken leadership of Mindful Companions. Before leaving for college, Jean helped them host a seniors’ event with a music ensemble and arts and crafts.