Adrienne Hundley of Art Pharmacy On How We Can Solve The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People
An interview with Pirie Jones Grossman
Center equity in care for all youth. Young people in marginalized and under-resourced communities have been shown to bear the brunt of the loneliness epidemic at a higher rate than their more affluent peers. Inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities to connect materialize in physical and mental health disparities.
Our youth are facing a loneliness epidemic like never before. They have “social” media, but many are lacking healthy social lives. Many have likes and virtual “friends” but not real live friends. They can text and tweet but not speak and listen and connect. And they are feeling it. Humans were made for real live interaction, and we crave it when we don’t get it, or don’t even know how to go about looking for connection. How can we solve this loneliness epidemic that young people face? As a part of our interview series about the ‘5 Things We Can Each Do Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People ’ we had the pleasure to interview Adrienne Hundley.
Adrienne Hundley is the Head of Service Development & Delivery of Art Pharmacy, a solution for healthcare providers to prescribe and refer patients to arts & culture interventions benefiting mental health. She is committed to serving the local and global community with mindful leadership, combining approaches from applied theater, social justice and positive youth development. Her work reflects continual learning and curiosity, leading to experience in various specialties in multilingual arts education, group facilitation, intercultural collaboration, and creative approaches to problem-solving.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us? What was it that led you to your eventual career choice?
I have always been involved in theatre and dance, both of which brought me my most meaningful relationships and a way to channel the feelings and values that were important to me. Through college and into the beginning years of my career I integrated theatre and the arts into the community building and social justice work that called me. Cross-sector work in the arts and education, emotional well-being, and health naturally followed.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
I work in a field of stories, so just one is hard. I would say that I have had the great privilege to teach many people and to witness creative ideas be born and developed into fantastical stories and performances. I would also say that without fail, when people have the opportunity to dream, dance, act, play, and speak their mind, it has a powerful draw. I’ve seen community members in a small village in Kenya draw around a portable speaker just as eager to clap along and listen to the songs and skits teaching public health as eagerly as theatre-goers pouring into an opening night performance at a venue in Los Angeles. Moments of connection between an anime super fan getting to take a voice-over workshop from the voice actor of Naruto. A formerly incarcerated individual performing a spoken-word poem to Dep of Corrections commissioners urging them to reform the juvenile justice system. A mother singing a song she wrote to her new-born baby.
It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
In my first year of teaching, I had one after-school drama class of all 4th grade boys. Did they want to do theatre? No. Did they want to play soccer? Yes. Did they think I was absolutely bananas for asking them to work together to make a machine with their bodies and voices? 100%. Did I absolutely lose them with every other ‘drama game’ I could think of? You betcha. BUT once I took them out onto the field and had them stage an entire game in tableaux — including the most dramatic of faked injuries — did we all have the realization that theatre can be a universal language and that high drama can be found in all corners of life? Well… maybe I was the only one that realized that, they may have just had the time of their lives coming up with the wildest poses possible to fake out a referee.
What I learned through this though, was that I had to meet the folks I work with where they are at. It was a masterclass in widening my idea of ‘what is theatre,’ ‘what is the right way to make art,’ and ‘how can the arts speak to everyone.’
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am so excited by the work we are doing with Art Pharmacy. It is reshaping the healthcare system to not only recognize the value of the arts on our mental and physical health but to integrate it into practice and also pay for it! Art Pharmacy is set up to meet people where they are at — we take a wide view of arts and culture and offer access to experiences that the majority of our patients would not have been able to attend otherwise.
Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority on the topic of ‘The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People’?
In the two years that I have spent developing and running Art Pharmacy, it has been my job to understand the experience that young people are having coming out of the pandemic, the challenges they face in the upcoming years, and ways to support them in a system that is currently falling far short of being able to address the current need let alone mitigate and prevent future suffering. I have integrated the research and the studies that have been implemented with youth coming out of the pandemic and its effects on their mental health with the real-world experience of teaching theatre to young people over the past 15 years, including over Zoom, telephone, and finally back in person.
The stress of navigating the unknown waters of a global pandemic, coupled with the removal of the structures supporting social and emotional growth and lack of opportunity to build resilience amongst peers, has led to this phenomena of young people craving connection but without the skills or stamina to do so healthily. It is showing up in classrooms as anxious or disruptive or disconnected behavior, online in shallow or vitriolic dialogue, and in doctors’ offices as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, asthma, substance abuse and eating disorders.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our interview. According to this story in the New York Times, loneliness is becoming an increasing health threat not just in the US, but across the world. Can you articulate for our readers 3 reasons why being lonely and isolated can harm one’s health?
There are different ways of being lonely. There is the physical isolation, experienced most acutely during lockdown, in which the lack of physical connection creates the feeling of loneliness. Alternatively, individuals may experience emotional isolation and loneliness, when a person may be surrounded by others yet still not feel connected to others with meaningful relationships. Both physical and emotional isolation increases the occurrence of depressive disorders and general anxiety disorders, placing undue stress on an individuals physical health. In turn, co-occurring health concerns of depressive disorders can include substance abuse disorders, chronic pain, and low adherence to other parts of a care plan (i.e. chronic care management). Co-occurring health concerns of anxiety include social isolation (a vicious cycle!) and hypertension in addition to similar concerns found in people experiencing depression.
Based on your experience or research, are children impacted differently than adults by the loneliness epidemic? How?
As adults, we have built resiliency skills over the course of our life. Young people build resiliency skills through interactions with others and encountering challenges with which they are able to practice emotional regulation and perseverance. Emotional support from a trusted adult is one of the 5 protective factors that are foundational in the development of resiliency skills in children. Age-appropriate social interaction with peers is a similar building block in the foundation of child development. When isolated physically or emotionally from others, young people lack the opportunities to develop resiliency skills and, therefore, are impacted more than adults in the loneliness epidemic.
On a broader societal level, in which way is loneliness among our youth harming our communities and society?
Loneliness is deteriorating meaningful relationships and connections between people. It is these connections that foster empathy in community and a shared sense of well-being. We see the lack of empathy to fellow community members damaging the trust between people and discouraging collective care for community members at large.
The irony of having a loneliness epidemic is glaring. We are living in a time where more people are connected to each other than ever before in history. Our technology has the power to connect billions of people in one network, in a way that was never possible. Yet despite this, so many people are lonely. Why is this? Can you share 3 of the main reasons why our young people are facing a loneliness epidemic today? Please give a story or an example for each.
I believe that relationships are built through shared experience and meaningful encounters. Technology enables connection, but the quality of connection is not guaranteed. The impact of social media on self-esteem, cyber bullying, and the overwhelm of negative news stories all impact the relationships young people have with their peers and with themselves.
In my conversations with young people, the stories that I hear surface again and again are ones of high pressure to perform in school/fear of failing to live up to expectations. I also see increased responsibility on young people to support themselves or their family, which feeds into an inability to connect with other peers due to anxiety stemming from self-esteem and/or lack of opportunity. Both may feed into a vicious cycle in regards to a lack of social-emotional skills.
What signs would you tell parents, friends, or loved ones to look for in young people they think may need help? Can you please explain?
The signs to look for include: lack of engagement with peers (developmentally inappropriate), inability to regulate emotions appropriately, low resilience in the face of challenging situations and a lack of meaningful relationship with peers and trusted adults.
Ok. It is not enough to talk about problems without offering possible solutions. In your experience, what are the “5 Things Each Of Us Can Do To Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People?”
We can all provide time for connection. As I stated earlier, I believe that relationships are built on shared experience. Doing something together as a family or providing space for young people to connect with their peers is an important step in supporting the development of meaningful connection.
Encourage the acknowledgement and de-stigmatization of mental health concerns. Young people areactually farther along on this front than many adults. However, acknowledging mental health concerns in youth also requires teaching appropriate techniques to address and manage those experiences.
Insist on comprehensive care for youth — mental health diseases are bio-psycho-social diseases. Young people NEED access to the whole range of care to support their wellbeing. Pharmaceutical intervention will not solve the problem alone. Therapy and psychological clinical care are an important part of the equation, but the supply cannot currently meet the demand. Addressing the social elements that negatively affect the feeling of connection amongst young people as an integral part of their health and wellbeing will be the only way to mitigate the loneliness epidemic and promote positive preventative habits.
Center equity in care for all youth. Young people in marginalized and under-resourced communities have been shown to bear the brunt of the loneliness epidemic at a higher rate than their more affluent peers. Inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities to connect materialize in physical and mental health disparities.
Pay attention. Our world moves quickly. Technology can suck away precious moments to connect intentionally.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I believe that the Social Prescribing movement taking hold in the United States right now has the potential to impact an incredible number of people and radically shift the way we think about healthcare in this country. It is undeniable that our healthcare system is broken. Health inequity, lack of access, disparate quality of care, are costing us more than dollars. By systematically integrating social determinants and drivers of health (which have largely lived under public health initiatives to date) into clinical care models, both practitioners and patients are incentivised to address the elements that affect up to 80% of our health outcomes. By making social prescribing (including arts-based social prescribing as practiced at Art Pharmacy) available to all people of all ages, we have the opportunity to get upstream of these mental health and loneliness epidemics.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Christopher Bailey, the Arts and Health Lead at the World Health Organization. I would love to ask about the latest research and practice that is exciting him right now. I’d also love to hear where he thinks there is the most momentum in adoption of practices that can radically shift our country’s concept of health care from ‘treating the sick’ to ‘cultivating health.’
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow developments at Art Pharmacy online at www.artpharmacy.co
Thank you so much for these insights. This was so inspiring, and so important!
About The Interviewer: Pirie is a TedX speaker, author and a Life Empowerment Coach. She is a co-host of Own your Throne podcast, inspiring women in the 2nd chapter of their lives. With over 20 years in front of the camera, Pirie Grossman understands the power of storytelling. After success in commercials and acting. She spent 10 years reporting for E! Entertainment Television, Entertainment Tonight, also hosted ABC’s “Every Woman”. Her work off-camera capitalizes on her strength, producing, bringing people together for unique experiences. She produced a Children’s Day of Compassion during the Dalai Lama’s visit here in 2005. 10,000 children attended, sharing ideas about compassion with His Holiness. From 2006–2009, Pirie Co-chaired the Special Olympics World Winter Games, in Idaho, welcoming 3,000 athletes from over 150 countries. She founded Destiny Productions to create Wellness Festivals and is an Advisory Board member of the Sun Valley Wellness Board.In February 2017, Pirie produced, “Love is Louder”, a Brain Health Summit, bringing in Kevin Hines, noted suicide survivor to Sun Valley who spoke to school kids about suicide. Sun Valley is in the top 5% highest suicide rate per capita in the Northwest, prompting a community initiative with St. Luke’s and other stake holders, to begin healing. She lives in Sun Valley with her two children, serves on the Board of Community School. She has her Master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and is an Executive Life Empowerment Coach, where she helps people meet their dreams and goals! The difference between a dream and a goal is that a goal is a dream with a date on it!
