More than one in three adults in Salt Lake County report feeling lonely at least some of the time, according to a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
The analysis found 35.4% of adults in Salt Lake County reported feeling lonely always, usually or sometimes, the highest rate among Utah counties included in the data.
For some women in the Salt Lake Valley, that loneliness is something they are trying to tackle face-to-face.
At Dee Garden Thai Kitchen in West Jordan, members of a social group called “Ladies Just Wanna Have Fun” gathered for dinner. Some already knew one another. Others were still learning names.
“Are you Kristen?” one woman asked as I walked in. “Are you Mary?”
The group organizes dinners, book clubs, paddleboarding and other activities, giving women a built-in way to meet people and make friends.
Tammy Rasmussen said the group has worked for her.
“I’ve made several friends from this group,” Rasmussen said.
She said making those connections can be especially difficult for people who are single.
“This helps because it gives you something to look forward to with activities and to go and do different things,” Rasmussen said.
Kim Endicott, who moved to Utah permanently a little more than a year ago, said she has also found it difficult to build a social circle.
“I think there’s people who have been here generations and they already have established friendships,” Endicott said.
She also pointed to geography.
“You’ll meet somebody that you have common interests with, and they live an hour away,” Endicott said.
That search for connection is something Stevie Graham says she is seeing firsthand.
Graham founded the Human Connect Project, which organizes events designed to help adults meet face-to-face and form friendships.
She recalled hearing from a woman who had lived in the area for about 10 years without feeling like she had found “her people.” After attending a speed-friending event, Graham said, the woman began building a community.
When that woman later needed help building a fence so her dog would not get out, three people she had met through the group showed up to help.
Graham said the Human Connect Project has held nearly 30 events in its first 10 months, drawing almost 700 attendees.
The CDC distinguishes loneliness from simply being alone. Loneliness is tied to feeling that the social connections a person has do not match the connections they want.
For the women around the dinner table, the answer starts much more simply: show up, learn a name and pull up a chair.
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