The Dorchester Reporter
As in-person gatherings resume, some ideas on how to improve social health
By Bill Walczak, Reporter Columnist
June 14, 2023
Events and meetings are underway in-person again, and each seems more like a reunion than a meeting. For a person who can count the number of meetings and events I’ve attended during my lifetime in the thousands, I’m finding that I’ve enjoyed getting back together for meetings and events.
I would even call some of these interactions joyful. Of course, it’s not that we didn’t have meetings during the pandemic. We had Zoom, but Zoom meetings lack the personal connection that humans crave.
Let’s face it, humans are herdable animals, and most of us want to be with other humans. We love to cheer for the same teams and can on occasion unite for causes both good and bad. The human herd took a big hit during the pandemic, being banished to our homes and other isolations for three years.
There's a lot at stake as we emerge from that isolation. We've suffered both personal traumas and societal fissures that became worse when there weren't opportunities to connect with others.
Covid certainly is responsible for a greater degree of depression in our world, and the increase of violence seen in many countries, including our own, may be symptoms of the damage to societal mental health that occurred in our 3 years of isolation. While it's great that we've seen more investment in behavioral health services, we need a more comprehensive understanding and strategy to help us rebound.
I’d suggest that we need more events, art, talent shows, music, opportunities to sing and dance together, experience nature, play sports, learn new things, be with others, and a special effort to lure out people who are isolated.
Rituals, typically expressed during holidays, can help. I went to the Red Sox game on Marathon Day with my four- and six-year-old granddaughters but left early because of the rain. As we walked to Kenmore Square, the roar of the crowd cheering the thousands of runners was inspiring. My granddaughters squeezed into the crowd to watch, and they immediately started cheering with the crowd.
Thousands of people, in the rain, cheering for people they don’t know. I was so proud to be a Bostonian. I also recognized the value of this ritual, a holiday that has no commercial appeal, but allows strangers to express collective pride and joy.
When I mentioned my experience at the Marathon to someone who ran the race, he noted how important the Wellesley college students were as he ran by the campus, keeping him going, which resulted in a discussion about the runner’s high. There are other “highs,” I said.
I often get a singer’s high when singing some choral pieces, such as the Hallelujah Chorus, and people who dance have said that they experience a “dancer’s high.” We thought about people who get high from nature, and it was clear that those cheering the marathoners were getting a "cheerer's high."
Getting people back together needs a boost. But who has the capacity to help do this? I suggest that our city government and local philanthropic organizations can be very helpful, especially working with our social service agencies and civic associations.
While there are numerous city programs in community centers, libraries, and the like, and much from our nonprofit sector, we need to ramp it up. We know from many studies that immersion in nature improves mental health, and we need more programs that get those isolated in places lacking nature to get to the great parks in our region.
How about free transportation to the Blue Hills and Harbor Islands for the summer, with walking tours included? How about requiring new real estate development to take into consideration the need for green space for those who will move into new housing? How about a moratorium on cutting down healthy shade trees?
Philanthropies could help fund youth and community theater programs and choruses in parts of the city lacking them and bring out an array of artists and musicians to the city’s squares and business districts, like we do for the tourist areas.
When I first arrived in Boston 50 years ago, our neighborhoods had vehicles for building social networks, typically schools and churches, but these have been weakened. As a result, there are many streets where the neighbors do not know one another, which may partly explain why we have dismal turnouts in municipal elections. We need to envision and support other ways to turn our neighborhoods into villages.
Civic associations could be vehicles for promoting block parties, if supported by the city and philanthropies. Back in the 1980s, after finding that residents in the Codman Square area mostly did not know one another, the Codman Square Health Center sponsored block parties with a formula: a community organizer would knock on doors on a street and find two to three people who wanted to host a gathering.
The health center would try to get a fire truck to come by the street on a Saturday morning, which would bring out children, who in turn would bring out adults, and the community organizer would start cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. Eventually, the organizer would ask if the group wanted to form a block group or crime watch. Today’s version could have fire and food trucks.
We need to get back into that way of thinking.
How about sports leagues for adults? With most people in neighborhoods not knowing each other, it becomes difficult to organize softball, basketball, volleyball, or pickleball leagues for adults, but why couldn’t this happen through the same organizations that youth sports use? Adults could sign up and be placed on teams, or just have organized pick-up games. We could also have other group activities like tai chi, line dancing, group bike riding, and yoga, and synchronized swimming. The key is to organize it, and here again, the city and philanthropic organizations can play a major role.
Human service and youth agencies, and civic associations could be encouraged (and funded) to expand offerings to include information on how to connect with programs and services needed by residents, and there could be a "new residents" program to engage and welcome new residents to neighborhoods.
The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The American health care system is mainly focused on physical health, somewhat on mental health, but almost never on social health.
The pandemic destroyed lives and careers across the entire world, a trauma that requires a focus on social health, in addition to physical and mental health. These ideas are just a few to consider that could help people engage with their neighbors and help them heal from the trauma of the pandemic. This summer would be a great time to start.
Bill Walczak is the former president/CEO of Codman Square Health Center. His column appears regularly in the Reporter.
Support local news. Subscribe or donate to The Dorchester Reporter at www.dotnews.com
Recent Bill Walczak articles
“Lessons for the Next Pandemic”. May 3, 2023.
https://conta.cc/3AU03Fo
“Commentary: State officials to Dot residents on I-93 trash: We’ll give you bags; you do the cleaning up” April 19, 2023. https://conta.cc/3otq4bQ
“Commentary | A hitchhiker reminisces about life, the universe, and everything else” March 30, 2023. https://conta.cc/3KqEPVs
“Commentary: How Brian Donnelly changed my thinking on government” March 16, 2023. https://conta.cc/3LuSo76
“It’s a bridge too far gone. Time for the state to have a new strategy on infrastructure” February 22, 2023 https://conta.cc/41lYGLC
“Development dream or nightmare? In the end, you get what you design” January 26, 2023 https://conta.cc/3wY84XW
“Commentary: The problem with our zoning code” January 11, 2023. https://conta.cc/3ixuLP7
| 
