Documentary Highlights Mental Health Benefits of Social Connections

Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Yusuf Ransome, MPH, DrPH, remembers watching his grandmother unlock the doors to the local community center every day. In a neighborhood where families sometimes struggled for food or witnessed violence, Dr. Ransome watched in amazement as people from across generations found solace and strength—together—during gatherings at the small and intimate center. It was as though his grandmother instinctively knew the value of social cohesion. “She was a vehicle through which both young and old folks, and those in between, really came together,” Dr. Ransome said fondly.

Years later, as Dr. Ransome was working toward his PhD in the United States, he learned of a term that brought back memories of his grandmother and his youth in the Caribbean—social connectedness. This concept of social cohesion, belonging, and feeling cared for and valued within a social network has become a core component of his research as an associate professor at Yale School of Public Health (YSPH).

Over the years, Dr. Ransome has authored many research papers investigating the health outcomes associated with social capital and social cohesion and his findings have been published in some of science’s top peer-reviewed journals. Yet most of the general public—and especially individuals who may benefit from the research insights—lack access to the online studies due to paywalls and other restrictions.

He may have finally found a solution.

Turning to the arts, Dr. Ransome and a team of researchers in his Society, Connectedness, and Health (SOCAH) Lab have partnered with Connecticut independent filmmaker Josh Bibbey to produce a documentary about the power and potential of social connectedness to improve public health. The group recently celebrated the completion of the first phase of the documentary, titled “Don’t Diss Connection,” with – of course – a social gathering at the downtown New Haven arts space NXTHVN. The event included the release of the film’s trailer and a panel discussion with some of the film’s participants and supporters.

Dr. Ransome described the documentary as a “beautiful merger” of art, science, and storytelling and a perfect platform for introducing the concept of social connectedness in a format that everyone can easily relate to and understand.

The filming started out as a series of short videos in which Dr. Ransome and students in the SOCAH Lab sought to document how people across various contexts, such as academia, community, faith settings, and mental health treatment, define and use social connectedness to improve health outcomes in the communities in which they serve. The team invited people from across New Haven – artists, business owners, community leaders, and others - to share what social connectedness means to them and what role it plays in their everyday lives.

“One of the things we're really trying to portray in this documentary is that social connectedness is already out there, and it's everywhere,” said Katelyn Kostakis, MPH ‘24, one of the SOCAH lab’s program administrators.

During the kickoff event, Krystal Jackson, a licensed psychologist, provided advice on community-building, and Lori Martin, a CEO of Haven’s Harvest, discussed how providing food to others builds connectivity. Other attendees discussed various community initiatives. Pastor Jason Goubourn of Church on the Rock New Haven talked about how people, through friendships and social connectedness, can help identify a friend’s physical and psychological changes early on and perhaps motivate them to seek treatment.

Dr. Ransome watched connections form in front of his eyes. People reunited with their ex-colleagues for the first time in 20 years, delighted. One attendee promised to organize a potluck with her neighbors, shocked by a Pew Research Center statistic stating that 57% of people do not know their neighbors.

Ransome and the SOCAH team said that was part of the plan. In promoting a documentary about social connectedness, the event itself became a function celebrating social connectedness.

“While we certainly wanted to highlight the documentary, the event itself was also intended to simply bring people together,” Kostakis said.

Translating science and actively communicating important aspects of public health to the broader public is a top priorityat the Yale School of Public Health and a key part of Dean Megan L. Ranney’s Strategic Plan for the school for the next five years. The Dean’s initiative includes a focus on embedding humanity and storytelling into science through multimedia and the arts as a way of inviting more people to engage with science.

Dr. Ransome has fully embraced the documentary concept and said he is eager to “step outside of the academic mindset” and share his findings and knowledge with people who may directly benefit from the insights.

The documentary comes at a time when many people are searching for closeness and connection following the forced isolation of the COVID pandemic, and to help mitigate the stress and uncertainties resulting from current social and political discord.

While many studies have shown that social connectedness and building meaningful bonds improve mental health and resilience, Dr. Ransome’s research goes a step further. He also explores associations among religion, faith, spirituality, and health.

“There's an intersection between spirituality and connectedness that no one has really paid attention to,” Dr. Ransome said. A Pew Research Center study from 2023 documented that 70% of Americans describe themselves as spiritual in some way. Other Pew data has shown that 79% of Americans believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, highlighting the importance of the concept’s connection to well-being.

Dr. Ransome views spirituality as something more than religious engagement. “It's not just anyone from a specific denomination,” he said. “For me, being spiritual means being someone who believes in a higher purpose in life, whether based on a divine entity or an understanding of the importance of the human spirit to everything in life.”

In the SOCAH Lab, Dr. Ransome and his research team ground their research on the finding that stronger social connections and higher levels of spirituality improve mental health. In his work, Dr. Ransome seeks to integrate the two concepts to see how they interact to impact health outcomes. Specifically, Dr. Ransome has found that it is important to have people in your circle who are spiritual, even if you struggle with the concept of spirituality yourself, as someone else’s resilience and positivity can positively impact your mental wellbeing. Dr. Ransome said he has personally benefited from this, turning to friends with a spiritual outlook during difficult moments.

Because some people can have triggering or negative connotations with the words “religion” and “spirituality,” Dr. Ransome said a more inclusive conceptual term for spiritual social connectedness is “transcendent conscious connectedness” or TCC. According to Dr. Ransome, TCC involves the intentional nurturing of relationships to discover our life’s purpose and understand our connections to one another and the world. This helps us to develop resilience and healthy coping mechanisms and find meaning in life, Ransome said. Ransome hopes that TCC will be viewed as a less polarizing term.

Dr. Ransome is highly respected for his research on social connectedness and faith and their associations with physical and mental health.

This was evident at the documentary event, which drew attendees from across the nation.

“I'm here because Yusuf is one of the leading experts on connection and health,” said Dustin Duncan, associate dean for health equity research at Columbia University. “If he invited me to a trailer, I imagine it's going to be something worthwhile.”

Student leaders around Yale also attended the event, hoping to apply Ransome’s work to their own leadership. “I'm excited to see what the findings are and how we make it apply it to our community overall,” said Saron Tefera, co-president of the Black Student Alliance at Yale.

Dr. Ransome and his team plan to host more community events, as well as a day-long symposium and a social media channel to continue building meaningful connections and improving health.