Meg Delp, licensed therapist and head of the NAMI StigmaFree Workplace initiative, shares strategies employers can adopt to meaningfully take care of their employees’ mental health. In conversation, Meg touches on the intersection of mental and social health, including the challenge of balancing caregiving with work responsibilities; the importance of matching resources with the employee population in order to be truly effective; and how to create a culture of care, where employees feel safe to bring their whole selves to work.

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠⁠papa.com⁠.⁠

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For Global Loneliness Awareness Week, Eddie Garcia, MHS-PH, a driving force in social isolation and loneliness advocacy domestically and globally, reflects on the past year’s movement to address social connection needs through policy and programs. While Eddie says the national dialogue that’s risen from the Surgeon General’s Advisory makes him optimistic, he acknowledges there’s still a long way to go and shares his hopes for the future and actions health plans—a major force in policy development and advocacy—can take to move us forward.

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠⁠papa.com⁠.⁠

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Architect and design researcher Erin Peavey, AIA, illuminates just how big of a role the built environment plays in our social health and wellbeing. Erin also shares a glimpse into strategies for addressing social connection with the built environment, featured in the Foundation for Social Connection’s new SOCIAL Framework report that she co-chaired and authored, as well as strategies for designing our own lives for more connection. After all, as Erin puts it “We are all designers of our lives. We are all citizens of place.”

You can download the SOCIAL Framework Report Erin co-chaired and -authored here: https://www.social-connection.org/what-we-do/research/built-environment/.

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠⁠papa.com⁠.⁠

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Dr. Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at Harvard University, outlines the alarming dual burden of housing and care that many older adults today struggle with. With her recent research revealing only 13-14% of adults aged 75+ can afford in-home care, Dr. Molinsky warns the issue is reaching a breaking point, and explains why housing and community are essential to health.

Watch episode 7

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠papa.com⁠.

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Social justice advocate, Georgina Dukes-Harris, MHA, reminds us why we cannot forget the “social” in social drivers of health. While resources for tangible needs, like housing, transportation, and food, are undeniably essential, Georgina says they alone are not sufficient for genuine healing. There must be a thriving community of trusted resources in place, and finding ways to ensure people feel like they’re part of such a community is the “special sauce” needed for true healthcare transformation.

Watch episode 6

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠papa.com⁠.

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Sonia Tucker, population health lead at Federally Qualified Health Center San Ysidro Health, stresses the importance of understanding your member or patient populations’ social drivers of health and staying flexible in order to enable equitable access to care. Sonia also identifies access to and understanding of health technology as an SDoH and explains why human interaction is crucial when rolling out new tech initiatives, particularly among older populations.

Watch episode 5 ⁠

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠papa.com⁠.

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Kasley Killam, MPH, social health and connection expert, shares evidence-backed tips for building connection and improving social health in this special Be a Pal Week episode of Unpacked with Papa. In the spirit of Be a Pal Week, Kasley and Papa’s Senior Director of Research, Kelsey McNamara, MPH, discuss why relationships need to be a public health priority, actions everyday people can take to improve social health for themselves and others, and how these seemingly small acts can lead to major changes in both our lives and communities.

Watch episode 4 ⁠

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠papa.com⁠.

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Michael Eidsaune, CEO of Caregiving.com, tells us why the growing hospital-at-home trend is a hot-button issue for him and tens of millions of family caregivers across the country. Rather than gloss over this last-mile of care, Michael outlines the steps we must take to guide, empower, and elevate family caregivers as meaningful participants in their loved ones’ care teams, and in the process, create a force multiplier never before seen.

Watch episode 3

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠papa.com⁠.

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Dr. Carla Perissinotto, an internationally recognized researcher who has spent more than a decade in home-based primary care, breaks down the idea of social prescribing—and the concrete steps providers and the industry must take to ensure people get the social support they need.

Watch episode 2

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at ⁠papa.com⁠.

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Our first guest, Dr. David Nash, widely known as a founder of the discipline of population health, gets candid about the barriers to treating the whole patient, and outlines three steps the industry needs to take to better center population health around SDoH.

Watch episode 1

Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Learn more at papa.com.

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