STORYTELLING IS HEALING
MEDITATION + PANEL
Sunday, March 22 — 4:30 PM
UCLA Santa Monica Hospital
An intimate conversation on illness, resilience, creativity, and community.Presented in connection with Keeping Score by Jacob Jonas The Company at BroadStage. In partnership with UCLA Health.
Featuring Diane Shader Smith — Author & Health Advocate (Moderator), Ben Moon — Filmmaker, Author & Cancer Survivor, Adrienne Hundley — Head of Community Strategy, SocialRx, Jacob Jonas — Director, Choreographer & Cancer Survivor.
Guided meditation included. Free & open to the public. This program sits between the two performances at BroadStage.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Diane Shader Smith (moderator) - Author and health advocate. When her daughter Mallory died at the age of 25, she brought Mallory’s memoir to publication as Salt in My Soul (Random House 2019), which led to the documentary of the same name (3Arts Entertainment). Using Mallory’s words, Diane has given 250+ talks worldwide about patient insights, the global health crisis called AMR, and phage therapy. Diane is a recent graduate of the Narrative Medicine CPA Program at Columbia University.
Ben Moon (panelist) - Award-winning filmmaker, photographer, author, and cancer survivor. Watch one of his films, Denali and his memoir, Denali: A Man, a Dog, and the Friendship of a Lifetime on Penguin Books chronicles his battle with cancer and adventures shared with his late dog Denali and has been translated into four languages.
Adrienne Hundley (panelist) - Head of Community Strategy at SocialRX.
SocialRx (formerly Art Pharmacy) was founded in 2022 to address the dual mental health and loneliness crises by connecting members with non-clinical, community-based activities with protective and therapeutic benefits. Our social prescribing solution is built around the understanding that traditional mental health services often leave gaps in care, particularly for populations experiencing barriers to access, cultural stigma, or a preference for non-clinical interventions. Based in Atlanta, SocialRx is currently working with partners in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. We are actively working to expand our offerings to all 50 states.
Jacob Jonas (panelist) - is a director, choreographer, and founder of Jacob Jonas The Company. Born in Santa Monica and raised between concrete and the Pacific Ocean, he began as a street performer on the Venice Beach Boardwalk and toured internationally with The Calypso Tumblers, absorbing the discipline of the streets and the art of performance. A stage four cancer survivor, Jonas creates original works rooted in movement, health, nature, and collaboration. His work has been presented at institutions and landmarks including Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and the BroadStage.
