School of the Art Institute students to show how art combats loneliness on 'Today' show
Chicago TribuneApr 24, 2018
Nearly 1 in 5 university students report experiencing anxiety or depression. To help students, at the
The school's Wellness Center, on the 13th floor at
Students from the Wellness Center are scheduled to be on the "Today" show Tuesday. The segment will focus on the loneliness epidemic.
An exhibit called "With / in" focuses on compassion and loneliness. One interactive piece uses a plastic pillow that inflates to help steady breathing; another student experimented wearing a boot with a plant growing inside it, weighing what compassion one can show an object.
For the "Today" segment, said Wellness Center Executive Director
"Magic then happened," said Behen, who has been at the school, which received a
Through trying to help students feeling anxious or depressed, they found that they often experienced a lack of belonging. And belonging, Behen notes, correlates with loneliness.
"We're more inclined to talk about things like belonging, or connection," he said. "We're in a moment I think right now where people are feeling like they can talk more about loneliness."
He pointed to
In
The students who did the training also meet every other week for dinner. Another biweekly support group has formed for students with disabilities and allies.
"What we're trying to do is really activate those natural strivings for connection that people feel on a college campus," he said.
In February, someone from the
Art is, after all, a way to connect.
"So much artmaking is about bringing people together, collaborating and making something meaningful that connects the artist to an audience, and the audience to each other, and those people to their worlds more deeply," he said.
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