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Join us for an engaging webinar featuring Allison Gilbert and Lori Gottlieb as they delve into the timeless wisdom of Dr. Ruth as well as the subject of her final book, The Joy of Connections, which addresses  loneliness and companionship. Allison, co-author with Dr. Ruth, will share insights on Ruth’s enduring legacy while Lori brings her own expertise to the conversation. Don’t miss this inspiring discussion on connection and the human experience!

Produced by the Jewish Book Council in partnership with the Weitzman Museum and other JBC Member Sites

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When Sur­geon Gen­er­al Vivek Murthy sound­ed the alarm that lone­li­ness ​“rep­re­sents an urgent pub­lic health con­cern” — exac­er­bat­ed by social media overuse, the resid­ual effects of the pan­dem­ic, and the lack of mean­ing­ful rela­tion­ships — trust­ed ther­a­pist Dr. Ruth K. Wes­t­heimer knew that her unique per­spec­tive and exper­tise could help. Long beloved for break­ing stig­mas around sex­u­al prob­lems, Dr. Ruth made it her mis­sion to help indi­vid­u­als break free from the bonds of hope­less­ness and iso­la­tion. With 100 con­crete and inno­v­a­tive oppor­tu­ni­ties that can be put to use imme­di­ate­ly, The Joy of Con­nec­tions isn’t only an action-ori­ent­ed guide­book on over­com­ing lone­li­ness from one of the most well-respect­ed ther­a­pists of our time; it’s also the vital kick in the pants we all need in order to start seek­ing — and find­ing — deep and last­ing human connections.

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, man­age care­giv­ing and chron­ic ill­ness, 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. Alli­son writes reg­u­lar­ly for The New York Times, has been inter­viewed on the Today show, Good Morn­ing Amer­i­ca, and NPR, has pre­sent­ed hun­dreds of talks to audi­ences at Ama­zon, Google, Hearst, Kri­palu Cen­ter for Yoga & Health, and many oth­er well­ness retreat cen­ters, com­pa­nies, and orga­ni­za­tions. Alli­son is the author of numer­ous books and hosts ​“Mak­ing Con­nec­tions,” a month­ly con­ver­sa­tion series with Reimag­ine on over­com­ing lone­li­ness, and pre­vi­ous­ly host­ed ​“Passed and Present,” named after her beloved book, about death and main­tain­ing fam­i­ly bonds. Alli­son lives in New York with her family.

Lori Got­tlieb is a psy­chother­a­pist and New York Times best­selling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Some­one, which has sold over two mil­lion copies and is cur­rent­ly being adapt­ed as a tele­vi­sion series star­ring Kris­ten Bell. In addi­tion to her clin­i­cal prac­tice, she is co-host of the pop­u­lar ​“Dear Ther­a­pists” pod­cast and writes The Atlantic​’s ​“Dear Ther­a­pist” advice col­umn. She is a sought-after expert in media such as The Today Show, Good Morn­ing Amer­i­ca, CBS This Morn­ing, CNN, and NPR’s ​“Fresh Air” and her 2019 TED Talk was one of the Top 10 Most Watched of the Year. She is the cre­ator of the Maybe You Should Talk To Some­one Work­book: A Toolk­it for Edit­ing Your Sto­ry and Chang­ing Your Life and the Maybe You Should Talk To Some­one Jour­nal: 52 Week­ly Ses­sions to Trans­form Your Life.