Loneliness is considered a major public health concern in the US. In 2023, the Surgeon General reported that nearly 1 in 2 Americans experience measurable levels of loneliness. The Foundation for Art and Healing may have a solution. Project UnLonely connects people with the arts and to each other. Good at Heart host Randye Kaye speaks with the foundation’s president and founder, Dr. Jeremy Nobel, about healing the crisis of loneliness.
WSHU: I first heard about The Foundation of Art and Healing when I read the book Project UnLonely. That title alone drew me in. Project UnLonely has three goals: to raise awareness of loneliness and its negative physical and mental health effects, to destigmatize loneliness, and to make programming available to address it. It focuses on doing that, addressing loneliness among those most vulnerable, older adults, college students, employees, and any individuals within at-risk or marginalized communities. The author of the book and the creator of the foundation, Dr. Jeremy Nobel, is here with us today. Welcome. Dr. Nobel.
JN Thanks, Randy. It's a pleasure to be with you.
WSHU: I have to tell you, I read your book. I love the book. I don't remember how I found it. I think I'm just interested in emotional intelligence. I probably heard a news story about it. I read it. Then I went to the website, and there is so much there. Rather than tell the listeners what I found, I'm going to ask you a question, number one of this podcast, which is, who do you help and how? Like, what's the mission of the foundation? Why did you start it?
JN: Yeah, the mission of the foundation, the 501 C3, nonprofit organization, The Foundation for Art and Healing, actually doesn't directly include loneliness. Interestingly enough, I started the foundation after 911 when I was really struck by how powerful creative expression was to help people get over the trauma, the disorientation of 911 and so our mission is to explore, promote, and facilitate creative expression as a path to health and well-being for individuals and communities. We're actually best known for our work in applying the arts to address loneliness and disconnection through Project UnLonely that you very kindly introduced. That's about 12, 13 years of activity, so well before the pandemic. It was clear from our work in traumatized populations, like veterans or all the ways trauma appears, aging, illness, being marginalized because of difference, that the arts were able to engage and connect people. That was not our awareness going in; they told us after participating in our programs, and so that's become our major focus of a very powerful way to put the arts to work, both individually and in our communities.
WSHU: I have to say that, you know, my background before going into radio was as a theater actor, so I know the kind of connection you get from creating art together, whatever that may be. And I will tell you, I went on your website about a year ago and took a workshop that you have called Campus Unlonely, where you use art and storytelling, basically to get us to connect again. I was listening to a news story yesterday about in-person learning versus Zoom learning, and it is a human need to resonate with other human beings. And they found that Zoom learning - a great substitute, as we all learned in Covid, but that opportunity to resonate with another human being in person is difficult or impossible to meet on Zoom. So I think that the workshop, even though we did it on Zoom, I must say I got certified on Zoom. But what has been the effect of the Campus Unlonely workshops when you bring them to a school?
JN: The workshops we offer really combine certain elements that have a deep kind of research-based, so first is mindfulness. By the way, for those trying to visualize it, visualize maybe 1215, people sitting in either a real or a virtual circle zoom, can create and commit to spending some time together, exploring their own stories through creative expression, but then sharing those stories. And so we use mindfulness as a way to engage people and invite them into the moment. We use creative making. And the workshop you mentioned is Colors and Connection. We use visual art making, but then it invites people to make shape and share their personal story, using color as a way to translate emotions onto the page, and it creates a little bit of a visual artifact that then can be used as a catalyst to share your story when you break up in pairs and then it's a whole group and share that. So we're now active with this program in over 70 campuses across the country. And as you pointed out, we have other programs too. But as simple as it is, this ability to make and share your story in a safe, supportive environment seems to be very effective in giving people a sense of calm, comfort, resilience, better able to navigate the challenges they have. For students, it often increases their sense of belonging to the campus community, which has some very positive benefits to it. Particularly in these very uncertain times. I mean, obviously, we're now subject to unpredictable events, some of them horrific, like what's happened on certain campuses, but some just regular challenges of life, you know, like navigating breakups or academic exercises that don't go your way.
WSHU: Right? Exactly. I mean, to me, that word belonging is so vital to being a human being, but that can become sorely lacking as we compete against each other and we're pitted against each other. The leader of the workshop I took told me that some friendships have started on campus because of this workshop, because of an opportunity to just share your story through color with this catalyst, it doesn't have to be an artistic picture that you create, and how art can help heal our brains. So with that in mind, tell us a little bit about the film archive that you have, because it gives filmmakers a place to show their work, but you also make these films available for people to show and discuss. Is that right?
JN: Absolutely. So we're now in season nine of Project UnLonely films, and so as you mentioned, Randye, these are a curated collection of short films. They're all short, 15 minutes or less on the subject and theme of not just loneliness, but this difficult, dark, challenging circumstance, and the joy and celebration of connection. The positive experience of belonging. So it's a film resource, if you will, to not just, you know, explore the stories of other people. And we have all kinds of films. We have narrative films, we have animations, we have documentaries, but then to watch them in groups. Small groups, you know, people are sharing these films in community centers of various types. We make it available at no charge for exactly this purpose. So that the power of film can invite us to not just experience human thoughts and feelings, but share them with others, with the film as a catalyst to evoke them. I invite anybody listening in to come visit our film archive. You can find it right from our website, artandhealing.org, or just Google Project UnLonely Films, and you'll get there directly.
WSHU: There are so many, because, as you said, you are in season nine. Begin with the award winners, but then dive deeper than that, because there are so many. So that kind of answers my first question. Now I want to ask you a question number two, which is, why you? Why does this matter to you? How did this get started out of your work?
JN: This work actually emerged out of 911 I was shaken up by 911 I think almost everybody was. And I turned to some of my own personal creative interests, through poetry and visual image making, to explore my own very difficult thoughts, like, how did this just happen, and what are the consequences in the world? And then I noticed pretty quickly I wasn't the only one. I mean, professional artists, of course, were using their arts, but almost in an unanticipated way, people who didn't feel they were artists were writing short poems. They were doing other explorations creatively to navigate these very challenging times. And I thought this is so incredibly important. And as a an internal medicine physician, public health practitioner, I kind of had a sense that we were missing an opportunity to use the arts as a way to engage ourselves, engage others, be better connected, and most importantly, to be healthier and more confident in navigating the challenges of the world. And it wasn't something that fit in immediately to the academic world. I had you mentioned my academic base at Harvard and I over the years, long standing relationship there in both Harvard's medical school and public health school. It didn't really feel at the time that that's something we knew how to research and explore, and so I uttered these hilariously ignorant words, I'll start a nonprofit. How hard could that be?
WSHU: Famous last words.
JN: Yes.. All I can say is, by the way, now there is tremendous, deep scientific interest in the arts, how it impacts the brain, mind, and behavior. We are not a science research organization, but we use that science in the crafting of our programs, in the delivery of them to people who can benefit. So that's how we got started. The origin was 911 and then as we began to deliver our arts-enabled programming. People told us that their storytelling and story sharing not only relieved stress and anxiety related to trauma, but made them feel less alone and more connected, and that's really what gave us the inspiration 12 or 13 years ago to start Project UnLonely.
WSHU: Who helps you or inspires you, like, what's the best advice you ever got, or a quote that you live by? What would you like to share about that? Because you're helping others, but who has helped you?
JN: You know, that's a great question. I've been so helped along the way by so many teachers and mentors of all sorts. You know, I find tremendous inspiration in the thoughts and language of you know, we might call philosophers, but also artists, who've really been, I'll say what artists do best, which is they pay attention. So there's a very famous quote from Picasso, anything you can imagine is real. Oh, and so if you start from there and then go to Nietzsche saying, we have art so we don't die from reality.
WSHU: I haven't heard that one. I love that.
JN: Then you begin to imagine why it is that we have the arts. As biology and evolution are very efficient. Survival is the goal. I believe the arts have been part of humankind since the beginning of recorded history. Go to cave paintings, right? Why did people take time, even with so much urgent necessity in their lives, to share their stories on the walls? I mean, there are some images that are very powerful, just simple handprints on the wall in different colors. I think, for a long time, and you mentioned this before, you know why we need other people. I think loneliness is a signal. It's a biological signal. Just like thirst is a signal that you need hydration to survive, loneliness is a signal that you need other people to survive.
WSHU: Yes, and you make a point in your book that loneliness is different from being alone. I think you say early on, like you can be in a crowd and still feel lonely, or you can be by yourself and not feel lonely. So it begins with a relationship with yourself, and art can help with that, too. I have three grandchildren, and sometimes, to keep them away from screens, we just sit, and we color. And they're not two and three, they're elementary school age. We might listen to music and just color. Someone will reach over and add something to my picture. So there's something about art that is very right-brained, and just we have differing needs for it, perhaps, I mean, you're the doctor. Tell me if I'm right.
JN: Well, what I can share with you is that the arts invite our unconscious to become conscious. Both in the making of art, when you use your imagination to draw into memories that may have been distant but then suddenly become available to you. And then you use your imagination to explore those memories and recollections to make something. So the power of the arts to make something, and then you can share that, because now you have an artifact. You can have a conversation. “Here's what I made.” Even working with your grandchildren, you'd say, “Oh, that's such an interesting picture. Tell me about it”, right? And so that is really what drove me to write this book, to be honest, which is it serves as an invitation for people. First of all, one of the goals is to humanize and demystify loneliness, and I think that is what I feel is best accomplished in the book. So people aren't afraid of it. They don't think that if they're lonely, it's their fault. They don't think that they're flawed or they're inadequate. It's just a signal, right? You need a human connection. So just like thirst, right? Very few people are embarrassed, guilty, or ashamed about being thirsty. Why are we embarrassed about being lonely?
WSHU: …or tired. Right. Yes.
JN: And the answer is because it's a cultural construction in our current narrative. That we're flawed. And the arts invite us to think outside of and redefine cultural narrative. And I think. We're seeing that around us in the arts that are coming out now in this very strange post-pandemic period of uncertainty, anxiety, and it's a way to push back against the disconnection that many are experiencing with a certain kind of connection, but it's a particular kind of almost spiritual connection that you're part of something bigger. But that's so helpful, because if you're part of something bigger, then you're not alone, and you have a greater sense of confidence, you can navigate whatever challenges you encounter.
WSHU: So that brings me to question number four: how can others help the project? How can others help you?
JN: You know, when it came time to think about a call to action for the book, I thought, How do I take some incredibly complex, multi layered question, “How do you be less lonely?”, and convert it into some very simple guidance? So I'll share that with you. So I think the first thing I'd love people to do is just consider this call to action, which is six words. First is to be curious. Make something. Have conversations. I would invite everyone to use curiosity as an entry point to a life of connection, not just to others, but to yourself. Because I think it, it's, it's one of the forces of curiosity that allows us to get past fear, despair, uncertainty, and just drive forward, and then the arts become a collaborating force in that, in that journey, that you don't have to be a professional artist, you don't have to be Picasso. Just get out there, make marks on paper, or put words down and string them together and you have a poem. Move across the floor, make that floor your stage, and then you're a dancer. It's everywhere.
WSHU: So be curious, make something, have conversations.
JN: Exactly.
WSHUYeah, it does boil down to human connection. There's another book I read that came out of Harvard about happiness. Can't remember the name of it right now, but I know that it was like a 74-year study. You may know the book I'm talking about, and when you open to the table of contents, like, every single chapter has the word human connection or relationships in it, like that is the key to it. So, can people contribute by getting certified in these programs? Or can a college just contact you and say, please bring a workshop. Within these six words, are there actions people can take to either help the foundation or take advantage of it? I
JN: Absolutely, so colleges and universities are very welcome, as I, as I may have mentioned, we're active in 70 colleges nationally. We're trying to double that in the coming year, so send us a note at info@artandhealing.org. But not just colleges. We're active in a wide variety of community-based organizations, YMCAs, and schools of other sorts. But I also want to draw attention to what I think are these very important community hubs of connection, and there are two of them that I think are hiding in plain sight, and that's museums and libraries. I think libraries in particular are kind of non-religious, spiritual places. For many people.
WSHU: Agreed, agreed, My last episode or one episode, I interviewed two librarians for that very reason.
JN: Great! So we've now, a few months ago, we entered into a collaboration with Boston Public Library and their incredible president, David Leonard, to develop arts-enabled programs that can combine our films and our workshops be delivered in all their branch libraries and intergenerationally engaged with, so I'd love to hear from libraries, museums of all sorts. We just did a learning collaborative. We started with the Queens Museum in Queens, one of the boroughs of New York.
WSHU: I know you grew up there.
JN: You grew up in Queens. Then you may know that they are the most diverse part of the country, according to various records.
WSHU: 140 languages, 240 something. There's a huge number of languages that are spoken in Queens.
JN: Right. So let's not overlook community infrastructure that go beyond institutions of higher learning, to invite all of us in as a way to to meet our neighbors. And whether we agree or disagree with them, to agree that we're all part of the human situation, because I don't think we can avoid that conclusion.
WSHU: This is wonderful. So I have one final question, and it was get very interesting answers. So Dr. Nobel, why do you think we're here on Earth?
JN: You know, what a wonderful spiritual question that is, why are we here? And I think it gets to the heart of what is troubling many people. Particularly the young people. So 18 to 28-year-olds are the loneliest demographic, not just in the US, but worldwide. And I think this question of, Why am I here? What matters? Is it the center of a kind of discontent that people experience when they don't have those questions, and it leads to self-doubt, and it leads to sometimes despair, sadly, sometimes suicidality and self-harm. Emile Durkheim wrote a wonderful book called Suicide in the late part of the 19th century. This was 1894, and he talked about how the lack of meaning, purpose, narrative, sense of community, and connection was such a difficult feeling to navigate. You know, it's a really interesting question. Why do I feel I'm here? It's always occurred to me, and it builds on Buddhism and so on. You know that while certain events are inescapable in life, we're born, we thrive. At some point, we change and pass away. The suffering around those events is not essential. So difficult things happen. I'm not naive about that, but how we navigate those difficult times, how we either suffer or navigate in some more positive way with a sense of hope, possibility, opportunity, not always just for ourselves, but for others. This is what motivates me to find a path forward, to relieve what I think is a relivable human problem, which is suffering. I'm not saying difficulty is what we can resolve, but how we navigate those difficulties in a way that we feel whole, complete, that we matter, that we're connected to the bigger human story. I think that's a feeling that's accessible to everyone,
WSHU: And we're here to help each other find that?
JN: We are.
WSHU: And not just ourselves, but for others around us as well,
JN: And just close that electric circuit thing. That's ultimately, I think, how we avoid loneliness, is by being connected to something bigger than ourselves.
WSHU: So be curious. Make something. Have conversations. The book is Project Unlonely. The Foundation for Art and Healing can be found at artandhealing.org. Thank you so much for joining us today.
