Matthew Fullen, an assistant professor in the School of Education, was awarded a $1.3 million grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, for a research project to develop and evaluate an innovate phone-based training program to address social isolation, loneliness, and elevated suicide risk among older adults.

The program, titled Belonging and Empathy, With Intentional Targeting Helping, or BE WITH, will study the effectiveness of the training for nutrition service volunteers working with older adults in six counties in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Fullen serves as Co-principal Investigator with Laura Shannonhouse and Mary Chase Mize, both from Georgia State University.