![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/pearls_05-1024x632.jpg\")
Terri Johnson places plastic discs on a bingo card during PEARLS Connect at the Women’s Center in Fort Worth on July 16, 2026. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\nJust over a dozen older adults sat at tables decorated in red, white and blue in a meeting room at the Women\u2019s Center of Tarrant County, eyes trained on a large projector screen.<\/p>\n
Decades-old photos of celebrities from the 1980s and \u201990s flashed across in a video quiz, challenging the group \u2014 all women \u2014 to call out the stars\u2019 names.<\/p>\n
Chevy Chase and Arnold Schwarzenegger came and went, as did Tom Cruise. The ladies had a lot to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was cute back then,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still cute!\u201d another contended.<\/p>\n
As the quiz continued, the women offered spirited interjections about which movies or TV shows the celebrities once appeared in, what they looked like now and which of them are still alive \u2014 all while enjoying hot dogs, fruits and vegetables, cupcakes and other snacks.<\/p>\n
The women found themselves at the July gathering by way of a free program called PEARLS \u2014 an acronym for Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives. Though this meetup featured only female attendees, the monthly sessions \u2014 known as PEARLS Connect\u00a0\u2014 bring adults 60 and older of any gender together with the goal of fostering bonds and fighting depression.<\/p>\n
The stakes are high. In Tarrant County, adults 65 and older have the highest rate of suicide mortality of any age group \u2014 19.9 per 100,000 people, according to 2022 data.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were first interested in having a program for older adults because we saw something similar \u2014 that that population was growing and that that population was prone to suicide,\u201d said Sherri Pratt, director of general counseling services at the Women\u2019s Center. \u201cWe were like, yeah, we need to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Developed at the University of Washington in the late 1990s, PEARLS has been administered by local organizations around the country since. It has served more than 12,800 older adults nationwide, including nearly 800 in Tarrant County since it began locally in 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PEARLS offers older adults individualized coaching to help them become more involved in their communities and improve their mental health. Pratt said the program took off soon after it began, and the Women\u2019s Center began looking for ways to extend its impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could we make sure that the work we had done stuck, that they were still benefiting from it, that they were utilizing the tools that we had taught them during PEARLS?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Clients can be referred to PEARLS by doctors, social services organizations, family members or themselves. Trained coaches provide eight to nine sessions in the client\u2019s home or a public place of their choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The process starts with coaches\u2019 assessment of the older adults to see if the program would be a good fit for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During sessions, a coach talks with the client about the causes of their sadness or isolation. Once that is determined, the coach helps them set goals to address the issues \u2014 one social, one physical and one for pleasure. If the participants struggle to come up with ideas, coaches are ready with suggestions.<\/p>\n
At each session, clients also fill out a mental health questionnaire that screens for depression and suicidality. PEARLS Connect participants also complete the form at the beginning of each monthly meeting, and if their score rises \u2014 indicating they are experiencing more symptoms \u2014 coaches check in to see how they can help.<\/p>\n
Loneliness is a common reason that older adults may struggle with their mental health, Pratt said. Participants could also be battling grief after losing partners, children or friends.<\/p>\n
One previous client was referred to the program by his daughter, after his wife of many years died.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just sitting in his house waiting to die,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cShe referred him to PEARLS, and he literally is on one of our posters here with the biggest, brightest smile now, because he got out of his house. He got busy. He stopped sitting there waiting to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another example provided by Pratt, a client wanted to go to dinner with her husband but could not because she was bedridden. She lacked the strength to transfer herself from her bed to her wheelchair. Her physical therapist had taught her exercises to help build her strength, but she struggled to find motivation.<\/p>\n
Her PEARLS coach helped her find it. After she completed her sessions, the client sent along a photograph of herself sitting with her husband in a restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s so amazing what happens in this program,\u201d Pratt said.<\/p>\n
Scores from the mental health questions indicate that after a Tarrant PEARLS participant completes their sessions with a coach, 97% see an average improvement of 87% in their symptoms.<\/p>\n
Romona Dunlap, 73, joined PEARLS while recovering from a difficult two-and-a-half year period caring for her mother. Even with nearly two decades of experience as a professional in-home caregiver, those years were incredibly taxing, she said. Then came the grief after her mother died.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time Shanna came, all I could do was sit and cry,\u201d Dunlap said of her first session with her PEARLS coach. \u201cI was in bad, bad shape, emotionally. And physically \u2014 I was just exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunlap\u2019s grief was so severe, it took nine months of attending a support group at her church before she could say the word \u201cmama\u201d without feeling tears coming.<\/p>\n
At first, she wanted to stay quiet at PEARLS Connect meetings. Over time, she began to feel more comfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took awhile for me to want to say anything,\u201d she said. \u201cThe coaches\u2019 support helps open that up.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of monthly PEARLS Connect gatherings, time is set aside for participants to share with the group things going on in their lives, including joys and struggles.<\/p>\n
At July\u2019s meeting, one woman told a story about her recent trip to Yellowstone National Park and an ensuing flat tire. Another told the group about her new puppy. Yet another shared that she is struggling because her friends do not understand her Parkinson\u2019s disease, prompting another participant to offer words of advice: Doing the best you can do is all you can do. Be who you are, and they will either accept you or they won\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Afterward, the group shifted gears to playing bingo \u2014 a favorite activity among the participants, Pratt said.<\/p>\n
A PEARLS coach spun colorful balls inside a revolving cage, mixing them thoroughly before calling them out into a microphone with energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cB 11. B, B 11,\u201d she said, peppily.<\/p>\n
The women focused intently on their cards, placing colorful plastic chips with care.<\/p>\n
Terri Johnson places plastic discs on a bingo card during PEARLS Connect at the Women’s Center in Fort Worth on July 16, 2026. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Periodical calls of \u201cBingo!\u201d were met with celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinner winner, chicken dinner!\u201d a staff member exclaimed.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/pearls_03-1024x666.jpg\")
Romona Dunlap, 73, celebrates after winning a round of bingo during PEARLS Connect at the Women’s Center in Fort Worth on July 16, 2026. “It’s healing,” she said of the program. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Then, the winning participant got to choose their prize. Among the choices in July were a crochet craft kit, packages of toilet paper and a ziplock bag of sample-size lotions.<\/p>\n
Dunlap, a jubilant winner, chose the toilet paper. She said she began working at age 15 but still found herself on food stamps at this point in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut food stamps doesn’t pay for toilet paper,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
Financial stress can be a factor leading to older adults\u2019 mental health challenges, Pratt said. They may have previously relied on a partner\u2019s social security check that stopped coming after their death. They could also be in danger of losing their homes or unable to afford repairs amid deteriorating living conditions.<\/p>\n
Prize options are assembled from what the staff can scrap together with limited funds and donated items. The program is on a tight budget, working with significantly less funding than it had last fiscal year.<\/p>\n
The Women\u2019s Center received nearly $200,000 from the Area Agency on Aging for the PEARLS Program last year. However, it received only $25,000 in 2026 after pandemic-era ARPA dollars expired and Older Americans Act funding through Texas Health and Human Services was reduced.<\/p>\n
That drop forced the Women\u2019s Center to let go of a coach and their PEARLS case manager, leaving the two remaining coaches to cover more ground. Their absence is felt by participants who remember them fondly by name.<\/p>\n
A local grant had allowed the Women\u2019s Center to offer transportation to PEARLS Connect, but that ended last fiscal year. The monthly gatherings no longer see as large a turnout as they used to, Pratt said.<\/p>\n
While men do participate in sessions, they are usually outnumbered at the Women\u2019s Center. Pratt said she believes the venue\u2019s name might be a source of confusion.<\/p>\n
Previously, about 25 older adults came to PEARLS Connect, Pratt said. July\u2019s meeting saw about 15, among them friends with tight bonds.<\/p>\n
Irene Bradshaw, 74, and Emily Ayala, 71, met through PEARLS Connect. Bradshaw lost her husband Elijah last year and joined after her son nudged her to find a reason to leave the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, I was just crying all the time,\u201d Bradshaw said. \u201cI started coming here, and it was like little by little, I started getting out.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ayala, PEARLS helped her find confidence and connect with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes you feel like you’re not alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The two share the experience of having cared for a family member, and of the exhaustion that can come with it.<\/p>\n
Bradshaw said she took care of a husband who had dementia, carrying the burden alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just got to where it was just so much I could not take it anymore,\u201d Bradshaw said. \u201cI wanted to just jump off the bridge. It got to be just that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayala cared for her mother by herself. Later, her sisters took her mom in.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, they got each other,\u201d she said, fighting tears.<\/p>\n
And Ayala has Bradshaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cPEARLS saved me,\u201d Ayala said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt saved a lot of us,\u201d Bradshaw added.<\/p>\n
McKinnon Rice is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n