STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK, the news can be stressful. Our personal lives can be, too. And it can be comforting to talk to someone about that. Sometimes, though, it's hard to find somebody to talk with.
CINDY COX-ROMAN: All around us, we see people who are struggling, isolated, particularly coming out of the pandemic.
INSKEEP: Cindy Cox-Roman is with the nonprofit HelpAge USA. It advocates for the rights, dignity and well-being of older people. And during the lockdowns for COVID-19, she learned about a program in Zimbabwe called Friendship Bench. It trains older people, who become known as grandparents, to sit and listen to anybody who just needs to talk - sometimes on a bench, sometimes not.
COX-ROMAN: What an amazing program that trains older people to be that safe space for people of all ages to share their story.
INSKEEP: After reading how the program reduced symptoms of depression, Cox-Roman partnered with Friendship Bench to adapt the program in 2024 here in Washington, D.C. Volunteer grandparents get 10 weeks of training,10 weeks to learn how to listen. None of them are medical professionals, but Cox-Roman says they have their own expertise.
COX-ROMAN: As an older person, people have the life experience of having seen it all, in a way. When you're younger, you're more judgmental, think, why would someone do that? You get older and you realize life happens to all of us.
INSKEEP: Tuere Marshall is a retired teacher and a Friendship Bench volunteer.
TUERE MARSHALL: It's about empowering the individual to solve their own issues, you know? Close your mouth and open your ears and just to listen. Listen to what's said. Listen to what's not said.
INSKEEP: So true. Some of Marshall's visitors have come back multiple times. And even if they never return, they still get a check-in. Dr. Rebecca Brendel teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and says follow-up matters.
REBECCA BRENDEL: Just a human connection can do quite a lot for the kinds of mental health symptoms that we experience as part of being human.
INSKEEP: Last year, the American Psychological Association reported that nearly half of psychologists have no capacity for new clients. Brendel says that makes programs like Friendship Bench important.
BRENDEL: The majority of people who are struggling with any kind of mental health symptom never access any kind of care. If we want to help people get access, bring it to where people are.
INSKEEP: Cindy Cox-Roman says her group's adaptation of the Friendship Bench method can now be found in community spaces in D.C., like schools and libraries. And the initial findings of an independent evaluation are promising.
COX-ROMAN: One hundred percent of visitors would recommend it to someone else. Depression scores on the standardized questionnaires dropped for most people. Social connections were strengthened. And 90% of people said they now had someone to talk to about their mental health.
INSKEEP: She says a program like Friendship Bench could work across the country.
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