Aging & Engaging: Benefits of Social Connection with Dr. Van Orden

Monday, September 23 *11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Erdle Lounge

Social connections that create a sense of caring, contributing, and community have a range of benefits for health and well-being at all ages and are especially important as we age. In this presentation, Dr. Kim Van Orden will describe reasons why attending to one’s ‘social health’ is important and social connection is a form of medicine! She will discuss evidence-based strategies to increase quantity and quality of social connections. She will share resources for increasing social connection and describe a research study opportunity that provides a free one-on-one coaching program to increase social connection and well-being.

Dr. Van Orden is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She is the Principal Investigator of the HOPE Lab (Helping Older People Engage) and Co-Director of the Rochester Roybal Center for Social Ties and Aging Research. She conducts randomized trials to test programs to promote social engagement and healthy aging. Kim mentors students and fellows, co-directs a research fellowship, and maintains an active clinical practice providing evidence-based psychotherapy to older adults.