Patricia Will headshot
Belmont Village founder and CEO Patricia Will

A “Living Lab” within a California senior living community will embed researchers with residents to more easily launch initiatives to study health, well-being and longevity.

Belmont Village Senior Living La Jolla, which held a ribbon-cutting earlier this month, will offer a dedicated space in the community where volunteer residents can interact with University of California, San Diego, researchers on wellness initiatives. The lab is a collaboration between Belmont Village and the university’s Stein Institute for Research on Aging. 

Belmont’s partnership with UCSD began in 2019 when two Belmont Village communities in San Diego — Cardiff by the Sea and Sabre Springs — took part in a multi-site study by UCSD School of Medicine researchers in collaboration with the Mather institute. The study, called Raise Your Resilience, looked at enhancing resilience and reducing subjective stress among residents in senior housing communities. 

UCSD now will launch a Raise Your Resilience sequel within the La Jolla community. The program is designed to foster social connections, enhance wisdom and support well-being.

UCSD Center for Healthy Aging and Stein Institute for Research on Aging Executive Director Danielle Glorioso gold McKnight’s Senior Living the resilience group program will build on work done in previous studies by increasing the number of sessions from three to six. It also will add a new focus on traits including compassion, self-compassion, gratitude and empathy.

Belmont Village Senior Living CEO and founder Patricia Will said the Living Lab “was created to enhance residents’ quality of life and represents our constant drive for innovation.” She described the effort as the “first of its kind.”

Community outreach and strategic partnerships are critical to the Center for Health Aging’s work, according to Glorioso said.

“Our mutual mission is to expand on the strengths of aging adults while helping them engage in the things that are meaningful to them,” Glorioso said. “We are thrilled to partner with Belmont Village to gain hands-on experience and further understand longevity and healthy aging so we can help people live richer and more fulfilling lives.”

Belmont Village Senior Living La Jolla residents are expected to move in later this month.