How villa Marin’s resident-led Operations, Ownership Model keeps Older Adults Engaged 

Residents at Villa Marin, a not-for-profit life plan community in California, own and help shape what goes on in the where they live. It’s all part of how the operator keeps them feeling well and engaged.

At San Rafael, California-based Villa Marin, older adults have for 40 years had a say through ahomeowner’s association with resident-led boards.

Longtime senior living executive Charlotte-Nicole Mashburn, who worked previously with senior living providers Cogir Senior Living, Discovery Senior Living and Sagora Senior Living, leads the community and has since 2024 stewarded lifestyle and wellness offerings for residents while bringing a more modernized corporate approach to behind-the-scenes operations.

“It’s been a very unique opportunity, and it’s afforded me the ability to do the right thing for our residents without having to keep in mind shareholders or investors because we are consistently reinvesting into the community,” Mashburn told Senior Housing News.

Residents at Villa Marin own their condominium units and have input on how the community is governed through the board of directors and nearly two dozen committees that are resident-led. The community’s unique structure allows for direct input from residents living there. For example, residents helped design a new dining room with today’s restaurant-style, chef-led standards in mind many senior living providers are trying to achieve. 

Resident-led governance and engagement have helped older adults “find purpose” as they age, and Mashburn credited the community’s collaborative process with residents and staff as a critical way for older adults to age with dignity, purpose and grace.

Evolving “into a wellness and whole-body approach” to senior living operations has helped shape programming, with support from the resident-led committees. The community recent launched Villa Vitality, a wellness program focused on “mind, body and spirit.”

“Folks today are a craving community; they’re craving spiritual connection,” Mashburn said.

Examples of popular programming include meditation classes and external support groups for residents. A critical part of the Villa Vitality program includes mental health services for older adults. Recognizing the tough transition senior living can be for older adults is important, Mashburn stressed, highlighting how the broader senior living industry can sometimes overlook the difficult choices older adults make in downsizing.

“This is a great thing, but there are two things that can be true at the same time and we don’t recognize that there is a loss happening when someone moves into senior living,” Mashburn said. “Typically, there’s a reason they’re calling us and it’s because they need help.”

Villa Marin added mental health liaisons, known as wellness liaisons, on staff to help older adults adapt to such great change in their lives, and Mashburn said mental health needs are becoming less stigmatized to discuss with family, friends and healthcare providers.

“Millennials are raising awareness of mental health, and that’s making it easier for this older generation to accept it,” Mashburn added.

Mental health services are also offered to staff as part of the company’s benefits package that was recently overhauled to include telehealth services, Mashburn said.

With less than 10 residences still available in the community, Mashburn said the popularity, flexibility and resident-led governance has helped spur occupancy gains and interest in the life plan community.

Other elements of the Villa Vitality program include lifelong learning opportunities for older adults, known as Vitality U, through a partnership with Dominican University with credited courses to help inspire new academic interests in older adults while also preventing cognitive decline through learning and reading comprehension, Mashburn said.

Popular wellness programming options include yoga and tai chi classes that have helped the Villa Vitality program thrive, Mashburn noted.

Villa Marin recently built a new fitness studio with technology to allow residents to follow fitness classes along rather than in a group setting to mitigate any social pressure older adults may feel working out in front of one another given age, acuity or sociability preferences. 

“We wanted to give more options for everyone, so we have classes that are led by an instructor and others that are self-guided,” Mashburn said. “This is about creating an environment for everyone.”

If you ask Mashburn, self-care is healthcare, and the community also reinvested into opening a new salon to offer facials, massages and extended self-care services for residents.

The last two years have been a “total transformation journey” for the community, as Villa Marin overhauled its back-office operations and expanding wellness offerings while modernizing accounting practices and staff support.

The post How Villa Marin’s Resident-Led Operations, Ownership Model Keeps Older Adults Engaged  appeared first on Senior Housing News.