Mental Health Minute: CSI Loneliness Symposium

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The College of Southern Idaho is hosting an event later this week centered around tackling loneliness in our community.

In this week’s Mental Health Minute, KMVT spoke with an organizer on what to expect.

“I would say the topic is going to be threefold,” said Matt Reynolds, a sociology professor at CSI. “It’s going to be about loneliness as a problem. And it’s also about ideas or ways to solve loneliness.”

The College of Southern Idaho is hosting its annual social sciences and humanities symposium on Thursday and Friday. The event looks to address “loneliness as an epidemic.”

Reynolds helped organize the event and explained why it’s such an important topic.

“In 2023, the Surgeon General issued a report on loneliness in the United States, and it was a really interesting and valuable report,” Reynolds said. “It connects with a lot of the expertise or interests of a lot of the faculty here at CSI.”

That report found that in recent years, about half of adults in America reported experiencing loneliness, something made worse during the pandemic.

Also, loneliness and social isolation can increase the risk of premature death by almost 30 percent.

The event will feature speakers from universities across the Northwest who are currently tackling issues of loneliness in their communities.

Though the CSI faculty is this event’s driving force, there is still some student involvement.

“We do have a student speaking at the event,” Reynolds said. “We always want to connect with students because it’s really for them.”

Reynolds added that while CSI students are the focus, the event is open to the entire community.

“We would love to have people to stop by. They can swing in for a session or two or register for the whole event. It’s free to register.”

If you are interested in registering for the CSI Social Science and Humanities Symposium, you can find that link here.

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