Seekers and Sages meet in a Palisades High School classroom.
Sometimes it takes so little to make a big difference. Sometimes all it takes is listening to another person and letting them know they are heard. No judgment, no advice, just listening. Even the busiest Palisadian can volunteer for about an hour a week for eight weeks for the Sages & Seekers program.
A resident told CTN “As a Sage these past eight weeks, I was struck by the way we in Pacific Palisades are all, kids and adults, touched by world events, including immigration and wars, and how this program helped me to meet neighbors outside my regular group.”
Another resident added “I found it very worthwhile, and it also appears that it was a valuable experience for the teenager I was paired with, so I signed up again for the winter semester.”
Sages & Seekers is a nonprofit that pairs adults 60+ with a Seeker, a Palisades High School student.
The class meets from 3 to 4:15 p.m. once a week for eight weeks.
During the second session of the program, the Sages (adults) and Seekers (students) participate in “speed dating.”
Each adult meets each student for a few minutes. After that session, students pick 3-4 of the Sages they would like to be paired with. Then, a facilitator makes the pairings. (This video talks about the structure of the program: https://sagesandseekers.org/our-programs/#inperson)
The goal of the program is for both generations to discover commonalities and shatter stereotypes. It also provides students with a nonjudgmental listener to talk about their problems. It also allows students to put down their social media and focus on one-to-one conversations.
Sign-ups of Sages is now sought and will close January 10. The program is free https://sagesandseekers.org/enroll/
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Each Sage & Seeker pair engages in meaningful conversations and that exchange culminates in a tribute written by the Seeker, then read to the Sage.
Results of our one-year study funded by the National Endowment for the Arts showed that Sages & Seekers intergenerational storytelling intervention increased adolescents’ reported sense of social connectedness, psychological wellbeing, and purpose-in- life, and especially so for participants with the lowest initial levels.
It also increased adolescents’ changing abilities to conceptualize their future goals in terms of ethical and relational values, instead of hedonistic or pragmatic motives, mediated the increases in reported purpose-in-life. Older adult participants showed increased generativity and working memory performance.
I just signed up for my 2nd experience as a Sage. I was so impressed by the Seekers in general, and my partner in particular. It was enlightening, encouraging, and fun.
My daughter is signed on for the group at Notre Dame in the Valley.