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Jewish Literary Voices: A Federation Series in collaboration with The Jewish Book Council

SPECIAL EVENT—The Joy of Connections: A Community One Read in honor of the late Dr. Ruth Westheimer

Join Jewish Book Council in partnership with Jewish Federation of the Berkshires and other JBC Network sites for an interactive conversation with Allison Gilbert moderated by Lori Gottlieb about the late Dr. Ruth. 

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.

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.

You can pur­chase The Joy of Con­nec­tions here. You can pur­chase Maybe You Should Talk to Some­one here. 

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