Home. It’s where you
feel safe, a secure space. It’s your sanctuary, your haven.
When you feel sad
or alone, it’s where you want to be cared for, by people who will offer you the
support you need and who care about you as a person.
You can be
confident that your coach (the name we give to the person who comes to your home) has the skills and training to provide you with the
best support possible, and you can be comforted by the fact that they also have
the compassion to make sure you feel cared for, they've been in your shoes. We know Southern Colorado Teller County and El Paso County, because it’s our home, too. Our Coaches live in the
neighborhoods where we work. We know the services available to you that
might be helpful.
PEARLS (Program to
Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives) program of Colorado is a treatment program
designed to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, sadness, loneliness and improve
quality of life among our 60+ folks and among many groups of adults. For a list of some of the folks we have helped see page "People in the following communities". More than 50 sites in 18 states use PEARLS, with more
organizations enrolling each year. The program consists of six to eight in-home
or
a community-based setting visits by the coach that focus on the following
goals:
Solving problems.
Becoming socially and
physically active.
Scheduling enjoyable
activities.
PEARLS helps individuals
to lead more active and rewarding lives. Thanks to a grant from our local Area
Agency on Aging we are able to provide this service free of charge in El Paso
County Colorado.
RESEARCH RESULTS
The PEARLS program
is an outgrowth of a five-year research project conducted in collaboration with
the University of Washington’s Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC). The research study showed PEARLS home-based
depression management counseling significantly reduced depression symptoms and
improved the health in older adults with minor depression. They found that PEARLS participants had a 50% or
higher reduction in symptoms of depression, and 36% showed complete remission.
The participants’ quality of life, both physical and emotional, also improved,
resulting in fewer hospitalizations. Later studies showed that the program
is also effective for adults of all ages with epilepsy.