Publicity Contacts:
Lillian Ball, lball@prh.com
Viviana Moreno, vmoreno@prh.com

“In this powerful book, Jeremy Nobel shows us how using the arts and creativity as ‘a gateway to imagination and empowerment’ can not only empower us to combat loneliness and isolation, it can profoundly change our minds and bodies.”
– Susan Magsamen, New York Times bestselling author of Your Brain on Art

Project UnLonely
Healing Our Crisis of Disconnection
by Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH

Loneliness has become a daily source of profound anguish for millions of people worldwide. This book offers a bold perspective to heal this personal and public health crisis.

During the 25 years Jeremy Nobel has been teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, most of the developed world has experienced loneliness as a relentlessly expanding public health calamity. Now in PROJECT UNLONELY: Healing Our Crisis of Disconnection by Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH (on sale 10/3/23; Avery) he explores what it means to be lonely, what it means to be creative, and what it means to be connected – to be UnLonely.

It’s been well-publicized that loneliness increases your risk of dying early by 30% — the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But research has also linked prolonged loneliness to depression, suicide, substance abuse, cancer, dementia, diabetes, and diseases of the coronary, respiratory, and gastrointestinal system. Yet the causes reach far beyond the kind of physical isolation we experienced during the pandemic. For many, a complicating contributor to their disconnection from others is their broken connection with their inner selves. This predicament makes connecting with others feel fraudulent, elusive, or even impossible. This is why you can feel lonely in a crowded room of colleagues or neighbors, and why the lonely get lonelier.

As founder of the Foundation for Art & Healing, whose signature initiative is Project UnLonely, Dr. Nobel has spent almost two decades helping people recognize and understand loneliness in the hope of destigmatizing and healing it. He finds that loneliness falls into three distinct categories: Psychological (a longing for an authentic connection to another person), Societal (an overwhelming sense of not fitting in or belonging), and Existential (spiritual questions about the meaning and purpose within it). These experiences of loneliness may be associated with specific life stages and may occur simultaneously. But, Dr. Nobel proposes that they all arise within five territories:

1. Trauma: Trauma changes our brains and how we make sense of the world around us, putting us on constant high alert, and thus changes our behavior towards avoidance, leading to greater levels of social isolation and increased risk for physical and mental illness.

2. Illness: Illness is always isolating, but life-threatening or serious chronic illnesses lead to a particularly high risk for loneliness, to say nothing of “rare diseases” that in aggregate burden one in ten Americans.

3. Aging: Aging comes with mental, physical, and social health challenges that increase the likelihood for loneliness. Significantly, the relationship between loneliness and cognitive impairment is bi-directional, meaning that loneliness in older adults increases the risk for dementia, while dementia increases the risk for loneliness.

4. Difference: Whether because of race, religion, gender identity, class, disability, or appearance, feeling different can lead to feeling marginalized, isolated, and lonely. It is not enough to work toward inclusion, we must work toward helping others to feel a sense of belonging.

5. Modernity: As our devices hijack our attention, we struggle to connect in real life. Social media in particular has disrupted our potential for healthy relationships as we are encouraged to endlessly perform and compare ourselves to others, with “success” measures by “likes” and “shares” rather than by any authentic engagement.

And yet, among the many hopeful signs that point to a future of healing, the most powerful may be creative expression. Making art acts as a gateway between your conscious and unconscious mind, requiring you to be fully present and engage the imagination, allowing what is hard to access to be expressed. With a deeper awareness of your thoughts and feelings, you are able to better connect with your essential self. Then sharing what you have made with others enables you to reveal that true self, offering the authentic connection with others that we seek in the modern vortex of distraction and anonymity. While loneliness ignites a vicious cycle, creative expression can ignite a virtuous one in the opposite direction. With an increased sense of self-connection and acceptance, positive behaviors such as self-care, seeking social support and supporting others are activated.

Sharing our unique self with others offers a rewarding celebration of our common humanity. Dr. Nobel hopes to destigmatize our loneliness and make sense of it for us all, identifying it as part of the human experience and a natural signal that we are in need of connection. Supportive, clear-eyed, and comforting, PROJECT UNLONELY will be the tool we rely on to help us navigate our crisis of disconnection.

JEREMY NOBEL, M.D., MPH, is a primary-care physician, public health practitioner, and award-winning poet with faculty appointments at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Medical School. He is the founder and president of the Foundation for Art & Healing (www.ArtandHealing.org), whose signature initiative, Project UnLonely, addressing the personal and public health challenges of loneliness and social isolation, has gained national visibility.

* AUTHOR INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST *

MORE PRAISE FOR PROJECT UNLONELY

“Jeremy Nobel has done us all a great service: He’s written a book that destigmatizes loneliness. With ample research and an array of stories, he explains why loneliness is not a private weakness but a public problem. Then shows how curiosity, creativity, and conversation can help cure what ails us. Project UnLonely is a vital read for our times.”
– Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drive, When, and The Power of Regret

“Jeremy Nobel not only digs into what causes the terrible anguish of loneliness in a wide variety of contexts, he gives us a framework for reconnecting with ourselves and others in a meaningful way. We need this book now more than ever!”
– Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Unwinding Anxiety

“Nobel puts us in the middle of current, high stakes conversations that recognize how loneliness undermines health, as well as our chances for intimacy and democracy. Here he argues a path to connection that includes personal artistic connection— something no chatbot can provide.”
– Sherry Turkle, Professor MIT, New York Times bestselling author of Reclaiming Conversation and The Empathy Diaries

“This grand tour of loneliness visits the pain of subjective experience, the insights of science, the threat of technology, and the promise of art to discover solutions to one of the great public health issues of our time. In our hyper-connected but ultra-isolated world, we all need Project UnLonely.”
– Thomas Insel, MD, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and author of Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

“Loneliness is a silent epidemic that no one talks about (because there is no one to talk to about it). Jeremy Nobel is the best friend and confidante we all need. Project UnLonely offers practical guidance and scientific context to how to fight loneliness in individuals and societies. His evidence-based approach elevates artistic expression to its rightful position of being as important as diet, exercise, and sleep.”
– Daniel J. Levitin, New York Times bestselling author of Successful Aging

The Foundation for Art & Healing’s Project UnLonely Launches UnLonely Film Festival Season 7

NEW YORK, NY (April 12, 2022) – The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH), a nonprofit, mission-driven organization that uses creative expression and the arts to address some of the most urgent public health issues today, is thrilled to announce the 7th Annual UnLonely Film Festival Launch Event on Sunday, June 4th at 7 PM ET. The annual virtual event will kick-off the film festival’s 7th season of 30 new, powerful short films focused on loneliness from a diversity of perspectives. The full season is available after the launch for a full year of streaming, sharing, and fostering conversation around loneliness and connection.

“Storytelling, no matter how personal, can connect us all. The UnLonely Film Festival celebrates the strength of creativity and our imaginations to bolster the human spirit,” explains Mike Paseornek, Past President, Production for Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, Film Festival judge and co-host of the launch event.

Since 2016, FAH’s UnLonely Film Festival has brought national awareness to the epidemic of loneliness and offered solutions rooted in creative expression by showcasing the connecting power of film’s storytelling.  Now 7 years later, with over 100 videos, these free award-winning short films give a voice to the many faces of loneliness. By viewing UnLonely films together and sharing reactions to the stories, viewers feel more connected. The films provide a path towards greater empathy and understanding, opening up meaningful conversation and enabling authentic connection.

At this year’s UnLonely Film Festival launch event, the 3 award-winning short films will be announced, and attendees will experience their powerful stories. The filmmakers will share their insights and inspiration with us, and we’ll get a sneak preview and sampling of the diverse films included in Season 7.

“We created Project UnLonely to help reduce the stigma and the burden of loneliness by encouraging people to tap into outlets for creative expression. Today, it is timelier than ever as people around the world struggle with the impact of social isolation. “We hope the UnLonely Film Festival offers viewers an opportunity to learn, laugh, cry, smile, and most importantly, connect,” explains Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH, Founder and President of the Foundation for Art and Healing.

Visit https://unlonelyfilms.org for more information and to register for the upcoming virtual launch event.

ABOUT the Foundation for Art & Healing

The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH) is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization that uses creative expression and the arts to address some of the most urgent public health issues today.  Rooted in medicine and science, FAH develops high impact, scalable programs that address the physical and mental health challenges of diverse populations including front-line healthcare workers, older adults, caregivers, those with major illness, employees, and college students. Its national, regional, and community-based partnerships enable effective and equitable program delivery, amplifying the powerful effect of using creativity and the arts to connect and heal. FAH created Project UnLonely to focus public awareness on the negative physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, and to develop and broaden the use of effective arts-based programming.   www.artandhealing.org

For more information on FAH and Project UnLonely, please contact: media@artandhealing.org

###

The Foundation for Art & Healing’s Project UnLonely Launches UnLonely Film Festival Season 6

NEW YORK, NY (May 3, 2022) – The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH), a nonprofit, mission-driven organization that uses creative expression and the arts to address some of the most urgent public health issues today, is thrilled to announce the 6th Annual UnLonely Film Festival Launch Event on Sunday, June 5th at 7 PM ET. The annual virtual event will kick-off the film festival’s 6th season of 36 new, powerful short films focused on loneliness from a diversity of perspectives. The full season is available after the launch for a full year of streaming, sharing, and fostering conversation around loneliness and connection.

“Storytelling, no matter how personal, can connect us all. The UnLonely Film Festival celebrates the strength of creativity and our imaginations to bolster the human spirit,” explains Mike Paseornek, Past President, Production for Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, Film Festival judge and co-host of the launch event.

Since 2016, FAH’s UnLonely Film Festival has brought national awareness to the epidemic of loneliness and offered solutions rooted in creative expression by showcasing the connecting power of film’s storytelling.  Now 6 years later, with over 100 videos, these free award-winning short films give a voice to the many faces of loneliness. By viewing UnLonely films together and sharing reactions to the stories, viewers feel more connected. The films provide a path towards greater empathy and understanding, opening up meaningful conversation and enabling authentic connection.

At this year’s UnLonely Film Festival launch event, the 3 Award Winning short films will be announced, and attendees will experience their powerful stories. The filmmakers will share their insights and inspiration with us, and we’ll get a sneak preview and sampling of the diverse films included in Season 6.

“We created Project UnLonely to help reduce the stigma and the burden of loneliness by encouraging people to tap into outlets for creative expression. Today, it is timelier than ever as people around the world struggle with the impact of social isolation. “We hope the UnLonely Film Festival offers viewers an opportunity to learn, laugh, cry, smile, and most importantly, connect,” explains Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH, Founder and President of the Foundation for Art and Healing.

Visit https://unlonelyfilms.org for more information and to register for the upcoming virtual launch event.

ABOUT the Foundation for Art & Healing

The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH) is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization that uses creative expression and the arts to address some of the most urgent public health issues today.  Rooted in medicine and science, FAH develops high impact, scalable programs that address the physical and mental health challenges of diverse populations including front-line healthcare workers, older adults, caregivers, those with major illness, employees, and college students. Its national, regional, and community-based partnerships enable effective and equitable program delivery, amplifying the powerful effect of using creativity and the arts to connect and heal. FAH created Project UnLonely to focus public awareness on the negative physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, and to develop and broaden the use of effective arts-based programming.   www.artandhealing.org

For more information on FAH and Project UnLonely, please contact: media@artandhealing.org

###

Believe Limited Continues BioMarin Partnership on Breaking Through! Programming  with Documentary Filmmaking Project for Bleeding Disorder Community 

Ten Adults Living with a Bleeding Disorder to be Selected for First-of-Its-Kind Program Aimed at  Empowerment through Artistic Expression 

LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — On the heels of World Hemophilia Day, Believe  Limited today announced a continuation of its exclusive partnership with BioMarin  Pharmaceutical Inc. and The Foundation for Art & Healing on Breaking Through! programming  for the bleeding disorder community. Following the success of national and regional workshops  and performances of “Hemophilia: The Musical,” this year the first-of-its-kind program will focus  on a new artistic form – filmmaking. The hybrid virtual and in-person workshops and productions  will take place from June to October 2022 to provide adults aged 18 and older with powerful  education on the healing and therapeutic power of the arts and self-expression. 

Ten adults from across the country will be selected to participate and tell their stories of the  challenges and victories of living with a bleeding disorder in a documentary film. Participants will  first learn about the filmmaking process during virtual workshops on topics such as writing, prop  selection, set decoration, directing, and editing. The WEBBY and SABRE-award winning  Believe Limited production team will then travel to the hometowns of participants to help bring  their stories to life on camera. The culminating documentary film will premiere during a special  fall event and be made available to the community. 

“Since its start in 2018, the Breaking Through! program has helped to educate hundreds of  people in the bleeding disorder community about how artistic expression can help to improve  their health and lives,” said Patrick James Lynch, hemophilia advocate, filmmaker, and Believe  Limited CEO. “This year, our team is proud to bring our collective experience as writers,  producers, directors, and editors to empower members of the community with the production of  a hyper-creative, multi-vision, multi-format documentary about life with a bleeding disorder.  Each filmmaker’s unique style, creative choices, taste and script writing will make a powerful,  dynamic, non-fiction film pop on the screen.” 

The Breaking Through! program is sponsored exclusively by BioMarin. The Foundation for Art &  Healing (FAH), whose mission is to promote and integrate the use of creativity and the arts in  addressing mental and physical health challenges, will join the partnership lending subject  matter expertise and experience in developing, measuring, and scaling innovative arts-based  programs. FAH’s Project UnLonely delivers community programs nationally to address the  “epidemic” of loneliness through various artistic mediums, including film through its powerful  UnLonely Film Festival. 

“For those with a rare, chronic, and often misunderstood disease such as hemophilia, the  everyday frustrations can lead to a sense of isolation and loneliness,” said Jeremy Nobel, 

M.D., Harvard Medical School faculty member, and founder and president of The Foundation for  Art & Healing. “We’re thrilled to be a partner supporting the Breaking Through! program as  we’ve long championed the story-telling power of film and filmmaking to engage and create  authentic connections. The Breaking Through! program offers a creative pathway for those in  the bleeding disorder community to become more connected, confident, and engaged in their  own self-care and therapeutic regimen, as well as to enjoy a richer and more flourishing life.” 

“BioMarin is proud to continue our support of the Breaking Through! program in our mission to  lift the voice of the hemophilia community,” said Chuck Bucklar, Senior Vice President,  Commercial Operations North America at BioMarin. “At BioMarin, we are inspired by a  hemophilia community with huge aspirations and driven to deliver on the ingenuity of gene  therapy clinical research and exploration.” 

Adults aged 18 and older in the U.S. living with hemophilia, who are carriers of hemophilia, who  have von Willebrand disease, who have another rare factor deficiency, or who have a sibling  living with a bleeding disorder are invited to apply now through 11:59 pm PT on Saturday, May  21, 2022. To learn more visit www.BreakingThroughHemophilia.com.  

About Hemophilia A 

Hemophilia A, also called factor VIII deficiency or hemophilia, is an X-linked genetic disorder  caused by missing or defective factor VIII, a clotting protein. Although it is most-commonly  passed down from parents to children, about 1/3 of cases are caused by a spontaneous  mutation, a new mutation that was not inherited. Approximately 1 in 10,000 people have  Hemophilia A. 

People with the most severe form of hemophilia A often experience painful, spontaneous bleeds  into their muscles or joints. Individuals with severe hemophilia A (FVIII levels <1%) make up  approximately 45 to 50 percent of the hemophilia A population. People with hemophilia A with  moderate (FVIII 1–5%) or mild (FVIII 5–40%) disease show a much-reduced propensity to  bleed. The standard of care for adults with severe hemophilia A is a prophylactic regimen of  replacement factor VIII infusions administered intravenously up to two to three times per week,  or 100 to 150 infusions per year. Despite these regimens, many people continue to experience  breakthrough bleeds, resulting in progressive and debilitating joint damage, which can have a  major impact on their quality of life. 

About Believe Limited 

Believe Limited is an award-winning boutique agency focused on creating educational,  inspirational and deeply impactful digital content, live events, podcasts, feature films, and more  for rare disease communities, with a deeply-rooted focus in hemophilia and bleeding disorders.  Our work has been honored by the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF), Hemophilia  Federation of America (HFA) and the WEBBYs. To learn more about our content and  programming, please visit www.BelieveLTD.com.

About the Foundation for Art & Healing 

The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH) is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization that uses  creative expression and the arts to address some of the most urgent public health issues  today. Rooted in medicine and science, FAH develops high impact, scalable programs that  address the physical and mental health challenges of diverse populations including individuals  with chronic health conditions, veterans, front-line healthcare workers, employees, older adults,  and college students. Its national, regional, and community-based partnerships enable effective  program delivery and amplify the powerful effect of using creativity and the arts to connect and  heal. FAH created Project UnLonely to focus public awareness on the negative physical and  mental health consequences of loneliness, and to develop and broaden the use of effective arts based programming. The UnLonely Film Festival curates and delivers films centered on  loneliness through its streaming platform as an engaging storytelling tool that fosters authentic  conversations and connection. 

Contact: 

Believe Limited 

Rob Bradford 

Email: rob@believeltd.com 

Phone: 434-258-7222 

SOURCE Believe Limited

essie and the Foundation for Art & Healing’s Project UnLonely Partner Together to Combat Loneliness     

Through essie’s New “Hands All In” Global Initiative, The Brand Will Support Project UnLonely in Its Mission to Address Mental Health Concerns for Gen Z Through Its Colors & Connection Program

NEW YORK, NY (March 23, 2022) – essie, the leading nail polish brand known for creating joy through color, is proud to announce its philanthropic partnership in the U.S. with The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH) and Project UnLonely. This partnership will launch as a part of Hands All In, a holistic global initiative to support essie conscious brand values, starting with a commitment to its community. As a color-driven brand deeply rooted in celebrating creativity and fostering happiness, essie is dedicated to helping its community develop meaningful connections through color. 

There is an epidemic of loneliness around the world, with 61% of Gen Z admitting they feel lonely and 46% of Gen Z reporting that their loneliness grew since the pandemic. essie aims to identify impactful methods to help diminish the effects of loneliness on the Gen Z community and has partnered with FAH to promote creative expression as an innovative approach to alleviate loneliness.

“At essie, we’re obsessed with color and its power to bring people together through storytelling,” said Isabelle Carramaschi, Vice President of essie. “We’ve never been more connected by technology, but an overwhelming amount of people are simultaneously struggling with a level of disconnection never seen before. As a brand that drives personal connections and has a large community of Gen Z cohorts, essie feels a responsibility to help create a positive change. Hands All In aims to create colorful connections to uplift those who feel lonely.”

Through Project UnLonely, which broadens public awareness for the negative physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, FAH works to explore creative arts-based approaches to address the impact of loneliness. FAH developed an evidence-informed workshop through Project UnLonely called Colors & Connection to connect students and college communities through the use of color and art-making, and story-sharing.  In partnership with essie, Colors & Connection has been implemented on college campuses across the country, including Harvard University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Emerson College. The one-hour workshops are held in-person in group settings, and are rooted in color’s proven power of facilitating personal reflection, imagination, self-expression, and connection. They feature guided “connecting through colors” activities and thought-provoking exercises that stimulate rich conversations and authentic engagement with oneself and others in a comfortable and supportive environment. essie and Project UnLonely will continue to roll out additional Colors & Connection programs throughout college campuses in the U.S. in 2022. 

“FAH launched Project UnLonely in 2016 well before the rise of loneliness was becoming a global concern, and its urgency now cannot be overstated,” explained Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School faculty member and Founder and President of the Foundation for Art & Healing. “Through our programs we’re continuing to see the power of creative expression and the arts having remarkable impact, improving connection and fostering a sense of belonging.  We’re excited to partner with essie to bring these novel approaches to college students navigating the social and emotional challenges of the campus experience.”

In celebration of the new partnership, the brand is building a skate park in Los Angeles on March 23 and 24 at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica and installing a colorful and interactive community art mural. Through the skate organization Grlswirl, the brand will be inviting the local skating community to come together and share in a creative and colorful transformation together. Through these events, essie aims to reach a wider community and bring more visibility to loneliness and their Hands All In cause mission.

Visit www.essie.com/colors-and-connection to learn more about how essie and Project UnLonely are creating a positive impact, and how your college campus can get involved with the Colors and Connection program this year. 

ABOUT essie®

America’s nail salon expert since 1981, essie aims to inspire a love for the manicure experience with a wit and style that touches the hearts of people everywhere. essie is the go-to nail brand for beauty professionals, industry insiders, celebrities and fashion icons around the world. the brand offers a portfolio of nail products and diverse palette of colors that includes: essie®original, a vast range of iconic and on-trend nuanced colors, gel couture™, 2-step longwear system, TREAT LOVE & COLOR™ advanced color and strength, and new expressie, quick dry on-the-fly polish. essie is beloved for its salon-quality formulas, witty shade names and over 1,000 colors. whether in salon, at home, on the runway or red carpet, essie believes in bringing people together through color; something powerful, collectible, personal and so much fun! since its introduction by Essie Weingarten, essie has delighted the color-obsessed with a love shared all over the world.

ABOUT The Foundation for Art & Healing

The Foundation for Art & Healing (FAH) is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization that uses creative expression and the arts to address some of the most urgent public health issues today.  Rooted in medicine and science, FAH develops high impact, scalable programs that address the physical and mental health challenges of diverse populations including front-line healthcare workers, older adults, caregivers, those with major illness, employees, and college students. Its national, regional, and community-based partnerships enable effective and equitable program delivery, amplifying the powerful effect of using creativity and the arts to connect and heal. FAH created Project UnLonely to focus public awareness on the negative physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, and to develop and broaden the use of effective arts-based programming. The Colors & Connection workshop was developed to engage the college community in combating loneliness on campus.   www.artandhealing.org

For more information on FAH and Project UnLonely, please contact: media@artandhealing.org

For more information, please contact:
ALISON BROD MARKETING + COMMUNICATIONS    essiemedia@abmc-us.com

# # #