Pitt employees, sign up for training on how to reduce loneliness at work

A new program organized by the Mental Wellness Task Force of the University Senate Benefits and Welfare Committee aims to decrease loneliness among staff and faculty at Pitt.

The Don’t Be Lonely at Work program will train and deploy 100 full-time staff and faculty volunteers to be “connectors” and use intervention techniques to assist staff showing signs of loneliness. This includes employees who express feelings of being uninformed, unseen and unheard.

“We aim to reduce loneliness in the workplace at Pitt by getting staff and faculty accustomed to being more aware of co-workers and extending genuine attention and appreciation to co-workers,” said Linda Tashbook, the program coordinator. “The more people we can train to spot and respond to loneliness, the less loneliness there will be.”

Volunteers will attend one-hour live training sessions and complete weekly forms discussing the connections they make until April 30. In total, outreach and reporting will take roughly an hour each week. Participants will also receive the book “Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated to All-In” by Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen.

Sign up to become a connector.