ALMA

 

About

Addressing Loneliness with Movement and Art (ALMA), in partnership with Arts & Healing Initiative, is a volunteer-run organization that seeks to spark intergenerational connections that reduce loneliness and increase belonging through dance, music, and creativity.

 

What They Do

  • ALMA invites intergenerational volunteers to visit older adults in-person or virtually, in long-term care facilities or isolated at home, to create healing relationships. We leverage creative arts therapy (dance, music, and art) as a tool for increased human connection and well-being. All participants notice an immediate increase in joy and decrease in anxiety and depression. Many volunteers report lasting effects from being of service in this way.

  • ALMA includes a variety of young volunteers to support our older adults in the community. We work with high school seniors, middle-schoolers, campers, college students, at-risk youth in recovery, and many more. Through engagement with our program, many of our young volunteers report gaining greater insight about themselves, increasing their social emotional and interpersonal skills.

  • ALMA offers education, training, direct creative arts programming, service-learning opportunities, and advocacy.

Goals

  • Remind every elder that they are alive, loved, and cherished (thereby simultaneously also reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness).
  • Training and educating volunteers in creative arts approaches for connection and empathy.
  • Shift cultural views on aging by creating mutually beneficial relationships between older and younger generations.

To learn more about collaborating, volunteering, or supporting ALMA, please visit almamovement.org and view their promotional video. For more information on Alive Together, a virtual program geared towards decreasing isolation and loneliness through technology, view ALMA’s three-minute video and informational flyer.