The community’s rich array of wellness resources stems from the expanding interests of older adults and Mather Institute research that puts an emphasis on autonomy.
The rich variety of wellness experiences and amenities available at The Mather senior living community in Tysons, Virginia is reminiscent of a resort. The critical difference is that instead of guests staying for a few days, The Mather hosts long-term residents who have the time to dig into the offerings, connect with professionals and dedicate themselves to their long-term health and well-being. William Myers, assistant vice president of wellness strategies for Mather, said one of the best things he hears from residents is that they previously had experienced one of the large array of therapies or activities available at The Mather as a treat on a vacation. “And then they say, ‘how cool is that we now have this every day where we live?’”
The Mather brings what might be seen elsewhere as niche offerings to the forefront, and its wide variety of activities represents an ambitious effort to meet older adults’ growing awareness and interest in a wellness-focused lifestyle.
“We’re a wellness-centric community, and we are really working to try and change that image and the perception that maybe senior living has had in the past,” Myers said. “We want to change the narrative through wellness and helping older adults live longer and better. There is such a focus today on lifespan and how we can live longer, but our focus is not only do we want to help you live long lives but it’s about the wellspan, too, and living well during those years.”
As part of its model, Myers said The Mather emphasizes “active and restorative experiences.” That means not only a fitness center but a music studio and ceramic studio and activities such an equine program and a beehive-to-honey beekeeping program.
“We also offer immersive programming, like private sound baths in a sensory float in our pools,” Myers said. “We have a halotherapy breath lounge room with salt therapy, a variety of different yoga therapies and reformer pilates. We have a lot of bio-optimization therapies, from acupuncture to bio acoustic beat therapy through a wave bed that we brought over from Germany. And we incorporate a lot of different cultural wellness traditions as well, such as drumming circles and shamanic healing circles. We try to use and learn from different cultural practices.”
The Mather’s breadth of wellness offerings stems from the Mather Institute, which provides research and information on senior living and wellness. The institute’s research has informed the development of a person-centric wellness model that prizes self-determination. The three drivers of Mather’s resulting ContinuWell framework are autonomy, which focuses on residents making decisions for themselves; achievement, which emphasizes fostering wellness through accomplishments; and affiliation, which highlights the role of connections with others in overall well-being.
“It creates a dynamic situation that fosters deep personal growth and well-being,” Myers said. “It’s about the idea that one’s more likely to benefit from wellness when it’s your own choosing, when you have goals that you can achieve and when you are encouraged to pursue them and can work on them with others.”
Wellness, of course, is not confined to activities.
“It is the daily life there,” Myers said. “It’s pervasive. Wellness is everything in the community. We have different culinary outlets, and they are heavily focused on Mediterranean style cuisine. We have nutrition and cooking workshops. We have urban foraging programs of the month. We have hydroponic micro farm gardening. We have the beekeeping program. We have superfood spotlights on the menus. We’ll do mindful eating meals where it’s a special food pairing and it will take you through a journey as you eat. We have food journaling programs. We have seasonal detox programs. We have a zero-proof beverage cocktail program, smoothie and juice bar. Wellness is central to everything we do there.”
Before opening the community in Tysons, Myers said The Mather held listening sessions with its depositors and focus groups to understand their interests and wants in a facility.
Myers said The Mather employs a sales and marketing strategy geared to make clear the community’s wellness focus and to attract residents who are ready to immerse themselves in the kind of healthy, active lifestyle that the community is designed to create for them.
“They’ve very open and receptive,” he said.
Because of the variety of activities and experiences at The Mather, education surrounding them can play a vital role in engaging residents. Myers said The Mather uses evidence-backed practices with research showing the effectiveness of different activities.
“We offer these kinds of micro-educational experiences to get people to understand a concept, to embrace it, and to show that it’s not just gimmicky or a fad,” Myers said. “We can show them the science behind them and then give them the experience.”
Myers said the key to offering such a range of activities is being “intentional” about it, starting with a director able to balance staff involvement with outside partnerships and experts who can oversee the tasks.
“Gone are the days when we just have one wellness person or one fitness person who is this catch-all for healthy living,” Myers said. “We really have to have expert staff that are specific to different things, like an expert pilates instructor, a breath work instructor, a mindfulness instructor or we have to work with contract partners. It’s really important that we’re authentic and we’re delivering the therapy and experience that we should.”
That requires patience in hiring, Myers said.
“It can be difficult to throw up a job posting for certain things and think that you’re going to get a lot of sound bathing instructors to apply, for instance,” Myers said. “But providers of those types of services tend to run in similar circles. So once you can tap into that and make connections into that world in a market, you can make more and more of those connections.”
Myers said he sees more senior living communities gravitating toward the elevated wellness focus that The Mather at Tysons offers as consumers continue to embrace wellness trends and focus on living longer, more active lives.
“I think this is definitely the future of our industry,” Myers said. “The consumer is changing, and they’re really forcing and driving this change. The opportunity is there for operators. The question is how quickly as an industry can we adapt and build communities that allow for these kinds of vibrant lives and that truly help people live independently as long as possible?”