“What activities did you like when you were my age? What was high school like without social media? What would you like to know about teenagers these days?”
These are a few of the questions posed by Evanston Township High School students to Levy Senior Center members at the first Talking Benches event, held on Monday. The pilot program brought students and seniors together to spark intergenerational conversation, stimulate connection and combat loneliness. “Loneliness and isolation have a huge impact on health, and Talking Benches is a way to help us feel more connected,” said organizer Dr. Lynn Chehab.
Talking Benches is inspired by a program in Frome, England. The town of 30,000 has been working to improve the emotional well-being of residents by tapping into community connections and volunteer groups to foster interaction. The goal is to address issues such as social isolation and loneliness, which are not traditionally viewed as medical problems.
Chehab, a community physician health researcher with Endeavor Health who used to work at ETHS’s school-based health center, said there’s been an explosion in isolation in recent years. “The pandemic isolated people in general, and it’s been hard to come back from that. One idea in Frome was the Talking Bench, where people can go to meet if they would like to have a face-to-face conversation,” she said.
Wanting to engage an intergenerational audience, Chehab reached out to her former teacher and good friend Judy Newton, who is on the board of the Levy Senior Center Foundation.
“Judy was my fourth-grade teacher at King Lab, and we’ve remained friends all these years. I mentioned the idea to her, and she immediately wanted to get seniors involved,” Chehab said.
The program brings high school students together with seniors for 30-minute conversations before they rotate to other participants. Students prepared a list of questions in advance, with topics ranging from favorite TV shows to life before the internet.
“The idea of building an intergenerational community was very exciting, and we thought it would be beneficial to everybody involved. We’re very siloed in our age groups these days, and there’s a generational divide specifically around technology. Bridging that gap reminds us that we’re all part of this community,” Chehab said.
Building connections
The in-person conversation is another valuable benefit. “Humans crave face-to-face interaction. It can be very isolating to communicate on a device all the time. This also gives participants the chance to build a connection with people they might not otherwise interact with during their day,” said Chehab. Originally, the plan was to be outside on actual benches in the Rothschild Garden, but Monday’s cold temperatures and rain moved the program inside.
Mary Willis and Liviani Sumi, who had never met before Monday’s program, had plenty to talk about during their session. Willis, an Evanston native, said she signed up for the event to connect with younger folks. “It’s such a crazy, mixed-up world with technology these days. You have to speak another language, and I don’t speak computer. For me, at 83 years old, it’s not easy,” she said.
Sumi liked how local the Levy Center was, and felt the program was a valuable way to make a unique connection. “My grandparents all live out of the country, and while I do call them, we don’t talk on a regular basis. My parents have always stressed how important it is to learn from older people, and I thought this program on combatting loneliness using talking benches sounded really interesting,” she said.
Newton said the program fits into the Levy Senior Center Foundation’s mission of bringing people together. “The Foundation aims to create community through classes, programs and events, and this is an ideal example. Seniors want to share their stories and connect with the younger generation.”
Several seniors showed up early, saying they were greatly looking forward to the session. “One woman came from Three Crowns Park, and many others live alone. This gets them out in different communities and helps to combat isolation,” Newton said.
Originally, 25 seniors signed up, but there was only capacity for 12 participants at the first session. Both Newton and Chehab hope the program continues. “After the event, participants expressed how much they enjoyed these conversations and how they would like to continue with future events. One ETHS student even asked if we could do these events on a biweekly basis,” Chehab said.
“We’d like to see this become a bigger community, where people share hobbies and become friends. Maybe it leads to cooking together or organizing a meal. Ideally, we’ll be outside and connecting to nature too. It’s such an invaluable way of bringing people together and enriching their lives,” Newton added.
And click on photos in the gallery below.
By Carrie Jackson as published in the Evanston RoundTable.
Photo Credit: Joerg Metzner
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