Amid COVID-19 crisis, Jewel calls staying home 'a new form of activism'

Music has the power to heal. No one knows that better than Jewel. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and mental health advocate joined Yahoo’s Reset Your Mindset even to share her new song “Grateful” and to discuss her foundation helping kids fight anxiety during the pandemic. Jewel is no stranger to anxiety, having experienced panic attacks and agoraphobia throughout her life, starting when she was homeless as a teenager. She describes the feeling like a car alarm going off, alerting her body that something isn’t right. Over the years she has developed tools to learn from her anxiety, and she credits them for helping her stay in alignment during the pandemic. “I’m also really grateful that I have developed a mindfulness practice and a meditation practice to help with anxiety and uncertainty,” she tells Yahoo Life. “So I don't feel this is as disruptive as it would have been if I didn't have those skills.”

Video Transcript

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So I want to check in with you first. How has your social distancing been going? How is quarantine been treating you?

JEWEL: I'm naturally a fairly reclusive person, and I live out in nature in the Rockies. And so this hasn't been too hard on me. And I'm also really grateful that I have developed a mindfulness practice and a meditation practice to help with anxiety and uncertainty, so I don't feel this is as disruptive as it would have been if I didn't have those skills.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: This is an anxious time for a lot of families. So I know you have a son, Kase. What have you been saying to him to sort of explain what's going on?

JEWEL: He does know about the virus, but it hasn't had any of the massive fear and hysteria. He knows it's our duty to stay home. He knows the world's changing. So there's definitely been adjustments, but there's a lot to remember as parents because we're suddenly homeschooling, we're suddenly trying to do our job, and have full time teaching jobs with our children.

And just remembering that our kids are going to remember the mood in the house much more than the details. Don't sweat it. If you didn't get the lesson plan done, who cares? Your kid's going to get to college. They're going to be fine.

The mood in the house is what you don't want to sacrifice. You know, math-- the math lesson that day isn't as important as the mood and the experience the child's having.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: You said that your anxiety has been one of your greatest teachers. How so? And what was that process and journey like for you?

JEWEL: I started realizing that anxiety was my body's way of telling me something wasn't right, and that's good. So when you start to see it as an ally, it really helps. It's not an enemy. We have a tendency with our less attractive personality traits to want to cut them off, disassociate from them.

And I've really learned that if I sit and I invite them in and go, all right, what are you trying to tell me? I learn something. I learn usually that, oh, I was just scaring myself with all my thoughts and I need to be more thoughtful about curating what thoughts I'm engaging in.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And it takes time to learn that and you have to have tools to learn that information, which that's what I love-- that that's how you're using your time during this quarantine is to help share those tools with children. So take me through the work you're doing with the Inspiring Children Foundation and why that's important for you.

JEWEL: We founded the Inspiring Children Foundation 18 years ago. We work with kids with suicidal ideation, extreme anxiety, depression. They come from extremely-- usually traumatic backgrounds. And this tool kit that I started developing when I was homeless, I started instilling it and putting it into this curriculum for our youth foundation.

We give them mindfulness skills, a tennis racket, and entrepreneurial skills and then they run the foundation. They do everything from video editing and all that. Because when you learn you're capable your self-esteem increases in a healthy way.

Intrinsically you start going, wow, I have value. I have worth. So they run everything. And they learn to heal through these mindfulness tools. And so now what we're doing is we're making these tools available to everybody. They were proven to work by an amazing neuroscientist named Dr. Judson Brewer and they're up at a free website called JewelNeverBroken.com.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So Jewel Never Broken has impacted so many students so far. And we actually have one with us. Cherrial, if you wouldn't mind joining us. I want to know how these tools-- how this curriculum has impacted your life and helped you through this difficult time.

CHERRIAL ODELL: Definitely. I mean, this program has transformed and, like, saved my life. When I started in the program I was about 13. And I grew up-- both my parents struggled with addiction. And it really had an impact on me growing up, specifically with my relationship with my dad.

We had this very codependent relationship where I'd blame myself for, you know, why he was depressed and suicidal and why he was drinking. And it kind of just led to a downward spiral for me. And, you know, I ended up struggling with depression and trying to end my own life twice.

And right around that time in my life is when I got introduced to the foundation and the mindfulness and emotional intelligence tools and the mentors that help kind of guide me out of that dark place and help me, I think, find light in a time where it was really, really difficult.

So definitely I think one of the greatest realizations that I learned from the foundation was that I am not my thoughts. And happiness is a choice. I can choose to let go of my negative thoughts and feelings and come back to the present, come back to the moment and, you know, it's been such a gift and such a journey ever since.

And I've been healing within myself, but then also being able to heal my relationship with my mom and my dad and, you know, all the people around me. So it's definitely been a gift and a life changer and saver.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Jewel, what is that like for you to hear?

JEWEL: I mean, I'm just-- Cherrial is amazing. There-- you know, when you start realizing nobody's coming for you-- you're coming for you. When you start realizing nobody owes you, but you owe yourself a lot and you're capable, you hit a new gear.

The thing I really love about this program is these kids don't have access to traditional therapy. We don't have access to those things. They have access to this tool kit and it works. I know it works because it saved my life.

It rewired my brain. It rewired my habits. And we've now seen it work for 18 years with kids with the most extreme cases. Typically suicide rates nearly double during a recession. And we've never had a recession during a pandemic with isolation.

And right now, our suicide hotlines across the country are up 300%. There's other distress hotlines up over 800%. We have a real problem. There's the potential for a greater loss of life from a mental health fallout than there is from the virus, potentially.

And that's why we're so passionate about helping give these tools that we know work-- that people can do at home, whether they have access to a therapist or not.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Absolutely. I mean we can't go outside right now, but we can go inward. And I think a lot of people are realizing that and these tools are going to help them through that. I do think it's so important to give people hope and to empower them in their own mental health journey. So thank you for all the work you're doing. Awesome.

JEWEL: Again, if anybody's interested in these tools, please visit JewelNeverBroken.com. It's a free website. Has these mental health tools that have been proven to work.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Thank you, Jewel.

JEWEL: Thanks for having me.