Making Connections: 25 Innovators Tackling the Loneliness Epidemic
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This live virtual event kicks off the Making Connections series with 25 innovators who envision 2025 as a year of more togetherness and less loneliness. These luminaries will present two-minute talks that share how their groundbreaking work is transforming lives.
In a time of disorientation, division, and social distrust, we need new ideas to get connected to one another. This gathering and the Making Connections series, hosted by Allison Gilbert, directly advances the urgent call to action from the 19th and 21st U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in his Parting Prescription for America: the need to strengthen relationships is the most pressing challenge of our time.
In the two months that follow, Making Connections continues with events on May 22 and June 12 featuring more in-depth discussion of imaginative projects to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
Confirmed projects (currently in formation):
https://thelisteningtable.com/
https://www.iammoreresilient.com/
https://www.communityplate.me/
https://www.friendshipbenchzimbabwe.org/
https://hinge.co/press/omh-2024-cohort
https://www.theconfessprojectofamerica.org
https://www.thedinnerparty.org/
https://www.blockpartyusa.org/
https://www.artandhealing.org/
Host
Allison Gilbert is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and one of the most influential writers and speakers on how to find the inner resources to overcome life’s biggest challenges. Through research and lived experience, Allison helps audiences transform grief and loss and find connection amid the growing public health crisis of social isolation and loneliness. She is co-author of Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s final book, The Joy of Connections: 100 Ways to Beat Loneliness and Live a Happier and More Meaningful Life. The book stems from the article Allison wrote for The New York Times, “Dr. Ruth Saved People’s Sex Lives. Now she wants to Cure Loneliness,” about Dr. Ruth’s appointment as New York State’s Ambassador to Loneliness, the first such position in the United States.
In collaboration with Reimagine, Allison hosts a monthly conversation series on overcoming loneliness, “Making Connections,” and previously hosted “Passed and Present,” named after her beloved book, about death and maintaining family bonds. Featured guests have included U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Anna Quindlen, V, formerly Eve Ensler, Rachel Cargle, David Kessler, Tembi Locke, Jean Chatzky, and Dr. BJ Miller.
Allison has been interviewed on the Today show, Good Morning America, and NPR, given a speech in front of the President of Iceland, appeared on stage with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Soledad O’Brien, and presented hundreds of talks to audiences at Amazon, Google, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and many other wellness retreat centers, companies, and organizations. She’s also enjoyed a fabulous dinner with Jay Shetty!
She serves on the Advisory Board of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and is a past Board Member of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief.
Allison lives in New York with her husband and two children.
https://www.allisongilbert.com/
About the series Making Connections
Join New York Times contributor and author Allison Gilbert for the Spring 2025 Making Connections series exploring ways we can reduce social isolation and increase feelings of belonging.
Loneliness is an underdiscussed aspect of the grief experience and research shows that it can increase the risk of disease, mental illness, and shorten life expectancy. In a time of disorientation, division, and social distrust, we need new ideas to get connected to one another. The Making Connections series directly advances the urgent call to action from the 19th and 21st U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in his Parting Prescription for America: the need to strengthen relationships is the most pressing challenge of our time.
The spring 2025 series kicks off on April 17 with a live virtual event featuring 25 innovators who envision 2025 as a year of more togetherness and less loneliness. In a lightning round, luminaries will present two-minute talks that share how their groundbreaking work is transforming lives. In the two months that follow, Making Connections continues with events on May 22 and June 12 featuring more in-depth discussion of imaginative projects to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
Past recordings from Making Connections are available here.
#makingconnections
