Yoo said that some changes she noticed from participants included reconnecting with friends, incorporating more physical activity in their daily routines and overall higher engagement in social activities around senior centers and libraries.

“We really did a lot of outreach with senior living communities … to spread the word about the program,” Yoo said.

For former PEARLS participant Connie Craft, she said the program gave her someone to talk to. In an ACC testimonial video, she said she signed up for the program after being approached by a PEARLS recruiter.

“It made me feel a lot better and to get out,” Craft said in the testimonial video. “It was nice to have someone to come and walk and just spend a few hours with.”

Her coach was PEARLS care coordinator Macy Quan, who helped Craft set goals to let go of things she no longer needed both physically and emotionally. Quan also commented about how there’s a lot of stigma surrounding mental health in society.

Mental health within the AAPI community

In a 2019 study from the American Association for Community Psychiatry on the prevalence of stigmatizing beliefs associated with depression among Asian Americans, it was found that 37.1% of participants viewed depression as a sign of personal weakness, 18.9% said they would be disappointed in a family member with depression and 8.8% believed having a relative with depression would bring shame to the whole family.

According to ACC Senior Services Director of Marketing and Fund Development Scott Okamoto, in July 2025, about 50% of adults receiving elder care from ACC Senior Services identified as Asian descent. In Sacramento County, a little over 21% of the population identifies as AAPI.

Oanh L. Meyer is a social psychologist and a faculty member at the UC Davis Department of Neurology who has been studying AAPI mental health for about 25 years. She said that within the community, social isolation and depression is prevalent, citing a lack of transportation as a major factor.

“A lot of older AAPI [adults] don’t drive, and so they’re socially isolated that way,” Meyer said.