Making Connections, Part 2 of 3
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The Making Connections series continues with a discussion of loneliness at the workplace. Whether in person or remote, so many of us feel disconnected from colleagues, customers, or clients. How can organizations and businesses improve our sense of connectedness and feel greater support for our mental health and wellbeing? Guests include Eddie Garcia, Founder and Board Chair of the Foundation for Social Connection; Susan McPherson, author of The Lost Art of Connecting; and Ann Shoket, CEO of TheLi.st and co-author of the Ten Minutes to Togetherness Report and Tool Kit.
Everyone is welcome. Bring your most pressing questions!
About the Foundation for Social Connection
The Foundation for Social Connection (F4SC) was founded in 2020 with the vision of a vibrant society where social connection is at the heart of how we live. As the leading US organization focused on addressing our crisis of disconnection, our mission is to advance social connection nation-wide rooted in evidence for our collective well-being. Together with our Scientific Leadership Council, Action Network, and partners, we translate research into practice, create long-lasting partnerships and convening opportunities for field builders, and prioritize social connection as a national value powered by lived experiences.
https://www.social-connection.org/
About Social Prescribing USA
Social Prescribing USA is the central American hub for the growing movement calling for the use of the arts, volunteerism, nature, and local community organizations as medicine for patients of all ages.
Social prescribing considers social health as important to a patient’s health as physical and mental health, and is a key tool to address the loneliness epidemic and the social determinants of health. We believe the use of our own community resources as medicine is one of the next big ideas in health care in the U.S., as it is in 30 countries around the World.
Social Prescribing USA serves as a national voice for the field, supporting critically-needed research, connecting local organizations engaged with this work, identifying best practices,and building a national group of implementers, including physicians, to put into practice and promote social prescribing across the country in a range of medical settings.
https://socialprescribingusa.com/
About Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth.
About the series Making Connections
Join New York Times contributor and author Allison Gilbert for the latest 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. Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy – a previous guest on Allison’s series – declared loneliness an epidemic and announced a strategy to help reverse this alarming trend.
The host of Making Connections is Allison Gilbert, one of the most influential writers and speakers on life’s deepest challenges, including grief and loss, caregiving and chronic illness, and the growing public health crisis of social isolation and loneliness. In partnership with Reimagine, she is hosting her latest series to reveal concrete strategies we can all use to build deeper connections. Allison 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 series kicks off with actor Alysia Reiner, renowned for her starring role as “Fig” in Orange is the New Black, but also for what she does off screen: Alysia serves as a real-life volunteer firefighter in her beloved community. She and other guests will discuss how acts of service have the capacity to help us feel a greater sense of well-being and connection.
The second session addresses loneliness at work. This discussion features Eddie Garcia, Founder and Board Chair of the Foundation for Social Connection; Susan McPherson, author of The Lost Art of Connecting; and Ann Shoket, CEO of TheLi.st and co-author of the Ten Minutes to Togetherness Report and Tool Kit.
And in the final program of the series, we will forecast innovations to reduce loneliness in the year ahead with journalist Julia Hotz, author of the new book The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging, and Frederick J. Riley, Executive Director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute.
Speakers
Edward Garcia III, MPH (he/him) offers thoughtful and expansive expertise in health and social policy development and advocacy for low-income and other vulnerable populations. Eddie is a partner at Healthsperien, a nationally recognized, Washington, D.C. – based policy and health care consulting firm focused on strategic, regulatory, legislative, and implementation issues. He's the Founder and Board Chair of the Foundation for Social Connection, a non-profit organization in the U.S. aiming to foster evidence-based solutions addressing social isolation and loneliness and is Board Vice-Chair to the Coalition to End Social Isolation & Loneliness, a multi-stakeholder organization whose focus is to create awareness and to advocate for policy reform to combat this issue. Eddie’s 20 years working in government health and social services programs has made him knowledgeable in a multitude of policy issue areas. He brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for policy and program development to expand access to social determinants of health and health equity programs and services. Eddie is a sought-after speaker on issues of social isolation and loneliness and social health as showcased before the American Public Health Association, the World Health Organization, and the European Commission, and numerous national governments and organizations around the globe.
Prior to joining the private sector, Eddie held positions in both the Executive and Legislative branches. From 2007 – 2012, Eddie worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services where he oversaw the development and implementation of quality measurement strategies across all CMS quality programs. From 2012-2015, Eddie served the House Energy and Commerce committee as a professional staff member under Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) overseeing their Medicare finance and quality portfolios.
https://www.endsocialisolation.org/
https://www.social-connection.org/
Susan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. She is the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting (McGraw-Hill). Susan has 30+ years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry events including Massachusetts Conference for Women, BSR, DLD, Worth Women and Techonomy, and contributing to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, USA Today, The New Yorker, New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
Susan is the recipient of Forbes magazine’s 50 over 50—Impact 2021 award and Worth Media’s Worthy100 award. She has also won numerous accolades for her voice on social impact from Fortune Magazine, Fast Company and Elle Magazine. Currently, Susan invests in and advises women-led start-ups, including: iFundWomen,Inc., The Meteor, Our Place, Spicewell, The June Group, Hint Water, The Helm, Apolitical, The Muse and has recently begun investing in women-led Broadway productions including Like Water for Elephants and SUFFS. She previously served on the boards of USA for UNHCR, Bpeace, The Lower Eastside Girls Club and presently serves on the 19th News board. She is on the advisory boards of the Apolitical Foundation, Lebec Consulting and Just Capital. Susan is a Vital Voices global corporate ambassador and a member of the New York Women’s Forum and Extraordinary Women on Boards. She resides in Brooklyn.
https://www.mcpstrategies.com/
Ann Shoket is a trailblazing senior media executive who has launched and reimagined legendary brands and has devoted her career to help women step into their power and to redefine ambition and success for a new generation. As the past Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen and one of the launch editors of CosmoGIRL, she led both major young women’s media brands to number one across every category. Most recently, as owner and CEO of TheLi.st, a nationwide community of high-impact women and non-binary leaders, she is using her platform to shine a light on the impact of the loneliness epidemic on women at work—and the solution, 10 Minutes to Togetherness. She is the author of The Big Life, and a speaker for corporations and conferences, including SXSW, Cannes Lions, and a popular TEDx speech. She has been a consultant and a regular contributor for Good Morning America, leading provocative conversations about millennials, burnout, the power of creating connection and #MeToo. She also appears regularly as an expert on TV, including Today, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, CNN, and she was a guest judge for four seasons on America’s Next Top Model. Forbes has named Shoket one of the “10 Most Powerful US Fashion Magazine Editors.” Folio: named her one of the “Top Women in Media”.
https://www.10minutestotogetherness.com/
Host
Allison Gilbert is host of Reimagine’s Making Connections and Passed and Present conversation series and 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.
Allison is also author and co-author of numerous other books, including Listen, World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robinson Became America’s Most-Read Woman; Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive; and Always Too Soon: Voices of Support for Those Who Have Lost Both Parents. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and is a past Board Member of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief. A regular contributor to the New York Times and other publications, Allison launched Pub Day, a literary consultancy, to help women writers best-position their book ideas for publication.
