Julia Vishnepolsky Expressive Arts and Dance Movement Therapist Adult Day Health Care

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Aging  in our guild is a source of grief and anxiety and an incredibly isolating experience. Many older adults lead disconnected lives even in group residential settings.

We are a social species, it's hard wired into our brains and when unmet has negative physical, psychological, and neurological effects. Research has shown the extreme consequences loneliness has in our older years:  cerebral refuse, low, and even expiry.

Enter ALMA :  an arts and healing initiative started past Dance/ Movement Therapist , Julia Grace Vishnepolsky , with a mission to spread the healing power of the arts, reconnect generations, and end isolation in longterm care.

ALMA, stands for 'Addressing Loneliness through Motion and Fine art',  and is committed to improving the quality of life in nursing homes, to bring dignity to our elders latest years and demonstrating the reciprocal benefits of intergenerational connection.

"I desire to create a new image in our club for what information technology ways to age," Says founder, Julia Grace Vishnepolsky,  "I believe past preserving intergenerational connexion and staying creatively engaged, whether through music, motion, or visual art,  nosotros maintain our vitality throughout the lifespan."

It has been shown that communities with the highest quality of life and longevity, also take a civilization of honoring and connecting to their elders and common outlooks that lead to amazing quantity and quality of life.

ALMA offers self-expression and connection to older adults through dance/motion and expressive arts  programming.

ALMA'south grouping sessions each designed around a theme related to life and begin with motion and music activities where participants are encouraged to limited how they feel. And then playful word is used to generate ideas for incorporation into art making. Often nature is incorporated into the sessions equally nursing home residents have little to no admission to the outdoors.

ALMA frequently invites local musicians, movement practitioners and artists to guide segments of the programming.

(Above)Special musical guest, Murray Hidary, giving a MindTravel piano concert during an ALMA visit to residents of Good Shepherd Health Intendance Center in Santa Monica, CA.

Volunteers (Los Angeles locals and at hazard youth) participate fully in the activities, although their role during fine art making is to help older adults in the procedure and appoint them in dialogue.

For the last 10 months, ALMA has been running a airplane pilot program, called PlantPals, that connects at-gamble youth in addiction rehabilitation with elders isolated in long-term care (dementia and Alzheimers facilities) in a weekly two hr guided experience. Through this engaging and therapeutic program positive change emerges. Our pilot has touched approximately 150  elders in three communities, lx at-risk youth, 100 volunteers, and twenty care staff.

Our pre and post surveys demonstrate significant benefits on adolescents in habit recovery. In addition to a decrease in anxiety and low, adolescents study to have a decrease in cravings while at the program, improvement in self esteem and cocky image, noticing qualities of patience, leadership, and empathy in themselves.

FUNDING
We operate in partnership with UCLArts & Healing initiative ,  as a 501c3 non profit organization.
The nursing homes we serve do not even so take budgets to cover our plan. The way ALMA has been able to serve up until now is through Julia'southward self funding, in kind donations from local businesses, and volunteerism.

In social club to ensure the continuation of the program, and thanks to the support of Murray Hidary  of MindTravel , Julia initiated a partnering project called  "The Moving ridge",   a weekly silent disco experience held on Venice embankment, with the intention of using dance every bit catalyst for social alter.

While this weekly outdoor ecstatic dance effect inspires individuals to become outdoors and trip the light fantastic in customs as self care, information technology also is used as a platform to educate the hundreds of participants on the aging crunch and the positive touch on of music, dance, and volunteerism on our elders. Part of the proceeds from The Wave get towards supporting ALMA.

The same MindTravel headphones are used to engage the most marginalize in nursing homes, bringing music to bed leap residents that cannot bring together the group format.

How ALMA came to be-(the short story):

After the sudden loss of her father in 2010 , Julia became a caretaker and health care proxy for both of her paternal grandparents.

She eventually had to place both in nursing homes, and witnessed beginning paw  the low quality of care in the facility. Particularly, the lack of engaging activities, connection with exterior community and nature.

Given her groundwork equally an expressive arts therapist with a specialization in trip the light fantastic toe/movement therapy,  she requested a position at her  grandfathers nursing habitation as a  dance/movement therapist, and began guiding weekly grouping sessions for the residents. This experience immune her to detect an improvement in the social and emotional wellbeing of the residents, every bit well every bit in herself.

Julia saw a need in creating a scalable plan that could not only reach more elders but likewise involve outside community.   While in a leadership program  that required completing a customs service project, Julia decided to accept the task on, and found a program that would bring volunteers to visit elders in local nursing homes and

engage in through movement, music and the arts.

She reached out to local community to come as volunteers, and invited an expressive therapist colleague, Gina Simonelli, to bring together her as pb clinical therapist and assistance with curriculum development and facilitation.

ALMA was built-in February 2018 and since has touched the lives of hundreds of elders and volunteers, bringing noticeable improvement to the emotional wellbeing of all involved.
ALMA Lead Expressive Arts therapist Gina Simonelli (left) & ALMA Founder, Julia Grace Vishnepolsky(correct) at ALMA's launch day, February 4th, 2018.

In summary, ALMA has v overarching goals:

1) To enhance the quality of life and reduce isolation of elders through straight music, movement and arts based programming.

2)To create a culture change in attitudes towards the aging population through promoting intergenerational connectedness and volunteerism.

3)To demonstrate the benefits of the arts, intergenerational connexion, and community service for at hazard youth in addiction treatment.

4)To Improve morale and decrease burnout of caretakers/staff through in-service workshops focused on cocky care. We believe that the staff are as much a function of the customs as the residents and thus the wellbeing of every staff member is vital to the older adults power to thrive.

5) To deport evidence based inquiry supporting the in a higher place.

 In order to proceed this program and mission live

....Nosotros Need YOUR HELP!

ALMA has been approached past UCLA who wants to deport inquiry on the benefits of our program combating ageism and helping adolescents in addiction recovery. Nevertheless, they are requesting we expand the reach of our program to have a big enough sample to make the research statistically significant and publishable.
Our promise is to use the results of this study to apply for and obtain larger grants, to expand our program nationwide.

At this point we are cocky funded and will not be able to continue the program without funding.

With your financial contribution nosotros will exist able to:

I. Add additional days per week of programming and expand into more nursing homes.

Ii. Admission more than isolated elders and providing opportunity for more youth to join the program.

III. Achieve our goal of getting a big enough sample size for UCLA to carry research report.

IV.  Begin developing a scalable curriculum and training plan to aggrandize ALMA to nursing homes and addiction facilities nationwide.  This training program will not only ensure more elders and at take a chance youth are reached, but will also create job opportunities for individuals trained.


How peachy is it know the elders in your life tin can receive such amazing customs outreach and care? Or to know that by the fourth dimension you lot are in your golden years, society now revels in the afterward years and regards you lot as a continuously participating member, rather than discard your value?

Thank yous in advanced for supporting ALMA and our mission, making this globe more empathetic and connected. And think...we are/will be them.

We invite you to make a tax deductible donation in honor of an aging loved 1 in your life.  Whether alive or passed, family or an elder you lot adore or that has fabricated an impact on yous.

Please write their name and additionally a quote or lesson from them that impacted you lot.

All donations exceeding $111 volition have their loved ones name written on our wall of wisdom  .

and remember....

Here's one of my favorite video's of my grandmother Marianna dancing at 88 years old:)

brownwough1954.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.gofundme.com/f/btu5u-help-plantpals-help-elders