A popular Vancouver event is tackling loneliness and misinformation

A new Vancouver-based event series aims to tackle two problems at once: social isolation and rampant misinformation.

Avneet Dhillon, who is currently completing her PhD with the Connections Lab at the University of British Columbia, said this idea stemmed in part from her own experience working in the mental health and research space.

Not only was she observing the spread of misinformation with the rise of social media, but she realized that access to quality research was often out of reach for most people.

“I found that [research] was often behind academic paywalls, or you have to be a student, or go to these very, very expensive conferences to get the latest information,” she said.

Meanwhile, Katrina Martin started We Should Be Friends in 2021, with the mission to create spaces for adults to meet, learn, and make friends. Since she founded the organization, she’s organized nearly 100 events, from book clubs to camping trips.

“What brought us together is that we were both really into the idea of engaging communities, but from completely different worlds. She’s in the social media and influencer, content creation space, and I was in the research academic space,” Dhillon explained.

Dhillon said she and Martin were chatting at a coffee shop one day when they came up with the idea for Office Hours Vancouver. Martin had been out of school for a while and wanted to learn, and Dhillon was constantly learning and researching and eager to share the information.

We Should Be Friends/Supplied

They partnered with The Pleasant on Main Street to hold the events. So far, they’ve hosted one, with two more on the docket. Each time, they are bringing in an expert to share their knowledge with the public.

The first event featured Yuthika Girme, a psychology professor at Simon Fraser University, who talked about the science of relationships and singlehood. The next is on men’s mental health on June 15 and is already sold out. It will feature Dr. John Oliffe, a professor at UBC and an expert in this field.

On June 29, Office Hours Vancouver will host its third event at The Pleasant, this time with Paul Kershaw, another UBC professor and an expert on generational fairness.

Dhillon said they work with the professors and researchers on their presentation to make sure it’s interactive and not jargon-filled. They also plan them so that attendees have the opportunity to both socialize with each other and the expert.

So far, Office Hours events have been immensely popular, with the first two selling out within the first six hours and drawing in over 100 people.

“I think it just comes from that human desire to want to learn. And then also wanting to be in a setting where you can socialize,” said Dhillon. “When you’re in school, it’s quite easy to make friends, [but] it becomes harder to make friends when you get older, so I think it just combines those two things.”

You can find more information about the upcoming events online.