Overview

We can be well connected, with 400 friends on Facebook and still have no one to count on. Ironically, despite social media, social isolation is a growing epidemic in the United States. The National Science Foundation reported in 2014 that the number of Americans with no close friends has tripled since 1985. One out of four Americans has no one with whom they can talk about their personal troubles. An unprecedented number of Americans are living alone, particularly people over sixty (one in three seniors compared to one in five just ten years ago). Millennials and post-millennials increasingly report discomfort and avoidance with face-to-face conversations. Social isolation can shatter our confidence. In isolating times, we’re not only lonely, but we’re ashamed of our loneliness because our society stigmatizes people who are alone without support. As a single, fifty-eight-year-old woman who finds herself stranded after major surgery, Val Walker has woven into the narrative her own story. As a well-established rehabilitation counselor, she was too embarrassed to reveal on social media how utterly isolated she was by asking for someone to help, and it felt agonizingly awkward calling colleagues out of the blue. As she recovered, Val found her voice and developed a plan of action for people who lack social support, not only to heal from the pain of isolation, but to create a solid strategy for rebuilding support. 400 Friends and No One to Call spells out the how-tos for befriending our wider community, building a social safety net, and fostering our sense of belonging. On a deeper level, we are invited to befriend our loneliness, rather than feel ashamed of it, and open our hearts and minds to others trapped in isolation.

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9781949481242

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Reviews

This book is a marvel! Without any pomposity, this is a compendium of real life stories and useful tips about solving the universal problem of loneliness. Val Walker is able to walk a fine line that never veers into 'clinical' distance or cloying sweetness. I plan to recommend this book widely! --Jacqueline Olds, MD, Co-author, The Lonely American, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital In this vitally important book, Walker has given us an informative and heartfelt examination of a world that encourages the kind of isolation that will kill us if we allow it. She shows us a way out of the pain of isolation, offering wonderful insights about building connections that will sustain us. --Scott Allison, PhD, Author, Heroic Transformation, Professor of Psychology, University of Richmond With honesty, compassion, and practical wisdom, 400 Friends grapples with a critical and timely issue. At the Health Story Collaborative, we're thrilled to have her knowledge and guidance for breaking through isolation. --Annie Brewster, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, Founder of the Health Story Collaborative and Co-founder of The Opioid Project Perhaps now more than ever, the experience of loneliness and isolation is almost universal. In 400 Friends and No One to Call, Val Walker brings a collection of diverse voices together to teach us how we can break past that isolation and build communities that support us and help us find our way. Her clear, empathetic, and compassionate voice carries the reader through the forces that isolate us, and gives us tools needed to move to a new sense of belonging. --Allie Cashel, president and co-founder, The Suffering the Silence Community, Inc., and the author of Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial Val Walker has written an important book about a paradox of our time: We have friends all over the place, and yet no one to turn to in rough times--a paradox with serious ethical and social implications. Insight and hands-on advice are needed. For those who care, Ms. Walker's book is a must-read. --Claus Jarlov, CEO, communications consultant, founder of Global Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark The work I do in fighting the stigma and isolation of addiction is all about the power of community. We hurt as one and we must heal as one. 400 Friends shows us how. --Paul E. Kandarian, actor/writer, longtime contributor to the Boston Globe and Rhode Island Monthly

Author Information

Val Walker received her MS in rehabilitation counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a rehabilitation and grief consultant. Her articles and interviews have appeared in AARP Bulletin, Time, Good Housekeeping, Coping with Cancer, Boston Globe Magazine, Marie Claire and Whole Living. Her first book, The Art of Comforting (Penguin/Random House, 2010) won the Nautilus Book Award. Val is also the author of the upcoming title 400 Friends and No One to Call, set to release in March 2020.

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