Lonely U.S.A.: Our Loneliness Epidemic and How to Cure It
March 13, 2025, at 7 p.m.

In 2023, the U.S. Attorney General called loneliness an epidemic with serious consequences for our nation’s health and well-being. Over one in two adults report feeling lonely,¹ and the impact is most severe among 18-25-year-olds, 61% of whom feel substantial levels of loneliness.²Presenting one of the most serious national public health crises in America’s history, how can we help heal ourselves and each other? Let’s come together for this important community event!

Moderated by Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño, president of Cornerstone University, guest panelists explored different perspectives and Christ-centered solutions for healing loneliness and rebuilding community, including:

• How loneliness and isolation differ across generations.
• The root causes and effects of technology on disconnection.
• What can (and can’t) be healed.
• How to rebuild connections with each other and with God.

Distinguished Guest Bios

Jean Twenge, Ph.D., professor of psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 190 scientific publications and seven books, including “Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future” and “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.” Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, NBC Nightly News, Real Time with Bill Maher, and National Public Radio. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She publishes her latest analyses and updates on the Generation Tech substack.

Chaitali Sinha, chief clinical R&D officer for Wysa, an AI-driven mental health platform and app, is a psychologist and therapist with clinical expertise across digital, judicial, rural and trauma-focused settings and a researcher on large-scale cluster RCTs in clinical and public health contexts. She is currently a co-author on 20+ publications in press or under peer review and the inventor on two patents. Her research work with digital mental health interventions involves working on interventions to test for an experimental hypothesis, building research infrastructure for digital health applications, and working with Wysa’s key partners across public health and academia, including the National Health Services in the U.K., Harvard University, Columbia University, and the Washington University of St. Louis in the U.S. Sinha holds a master’s in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in applied psychology (Hons.) from Delhi University.

Dr. Mark Mayfield is a former pastor, award-winning author, speaker, certified master Christian coach, mental health counselor, and assistant professor of clinical mental health counseling at Colorado Christian University. With extensive experience consulting on mental and emotional health for schools and faith-based organizations, he founded No Student Unseen. A trauma expert, Dr. Mayfield works clinically with families and serves as director of national advancement for Light Counseling Plus. He also partners with the AACC as director of practice and ministry development and editor of Marriage & Family: A Christian Journal. Dr. Mayfield has authored five books, including “The Path Out of Loneliness” and “Hope & Healing for Loneliness.” Featured in outlets like WORLD Magazine, FOX NEWS, NBC, and Reader’s Digest, he was invited to the White House in December 2019 and has consulted periodically on mental health in America. His aim is to help individuals better connect with God and each other.

Dr. Sohrab Ahmari, the U.S. editor of UnHerd, is a journalist, columnist, public intellectual, and author. He co-founded Compact magazine and spent nearly a decade at News Corp., as an editor and columnist with The Wall Street Journal opinion pages in New York and London, and as the op-ed editor of the New York Post. His books include “Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty—and What To Do About It” (2023) and “The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos” (2021). An immigrant from Iran to the United States who converted to Catholicism, Ahmari is a voice for working people and the human condition.

One of West Michigan’s fastest-growing Christian thought leadership series, Cornerstone University’s Wisdom Conversations continues to be a platform for respectful, thoughtful, and challenging discussions, equipping students and the community to navigate the complexities of authentic Christ-centered faith, politics, and public life with wisdom and grace.

“We were reminded that to show love and humility during these challenging conversations, we must listen more than we speak and be like-minded with Christ.” — Lydia Hilton

“What stuck out to me was when the panelists emphasized the fact that our faith in Jesus should make us more motivated to be involved with politics, in a loving way. The division in our country’s political system doesn’t need to influence how we approach the biggest issues in our country as believers.” — Sarah Murphree

References

¹Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. Office of the Surgeon General. 2023

²Loneliness in America: How the Pandemic Has Deepened an Epidemic of Loneliness and What We Can Do About It. Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Virginia Lovison, and Eric Torres