Written on May 8, 2012 at 8:33 am, by Anna
One of our newest supporters in London Walk the Earth has just launched their intergenerational project where carers and volunteers of all ages learn how to be story-capturers to capture older people’s perspectives on life, at the end of their life using conversations captured on audio. Volunteers are currently starting to visit care homes and…
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Written on February 10, 2012 at 12:08 pm, by Anna
The health impacts of loneliness are significant, and must be better understood in order for loneliness in older age to be tackled effectively. It is only by addressing the negative consequences of loneliness to our physical and mental health that we can be sure we’re really addressing the wider problem. Severe loneliness has a similar…
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Written on February 2, 2012 at 5:17 pm, by Anna
We are pleased to announce that Manchester City Council, the only UK city to receive World Health Organisation’s Age-friendly status, and Sense, the national charity that support and campaign for children and adults who are deafblind, have joined the management group of the Campaign to End Loneliness. Together with Age UK Oxfordshire, Independent Age and…
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Written on January 18, 2012 at 1:07 pm, by Anna
There is a risk to downsizing. Too often transitions, like moving out of a long term family home, mean a loss of social and emotional connections and a lowered resilience to loneliness. Long term residence in one community has been suggested, for example in Wenger and Burholt’s 2004 study, as a good indicator that someone…
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Written on January 16, 2012 at 2:38 pm, by Anna
It is thanks to the blogger Charlotte Overton-Hart that we came across this short film, Between Days, from the Danish filmmaker and photographer Nizar Pasalic. In just 8 and a half minutes, Pasalic beautifully captures the loss and love felt by an 80-year old Bosnian man who is apart from his wife for the first…
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Written on January 10, 2012 at 4:03 pm, by Anna
The NHS revealed yesterday that alcohol-related hospital admissions have soared for people aged over 65, an increase of 163% in just 10 years. Another organisation monitoring substance misuse has found that the levels of alcohol drunk by this age group has been steadily increasing, and will only continue to as our population ages. Whilst moderate…
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Written on December 7, 2011 at 1:02 pm, by Anna
According to the National Centre for Social Research report, released today, we now live in a society with an “emerging sense of self-reliance” and a growing “emphasis on individualism”. Some will view this as a blessing but, by placing a greater value on individualism, we risk creating communities that further isolate, rather than assist, their…
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Written on November 25, 2011 at 11:28 am, by Anna
The publication this week of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report into the home care system in England rightly provoked widespread condemnation of the lack of dignity, neglect and physical abuse that some older people were experiencing as they received paid social care in their own homes. Although half of those who provided evidence…
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Written on October 18, 2011 at 9:58 am, by Anna
A recent study by the University of California, Berkeley, found that (positive) feelings of connection encouraged people to – in their words – “do good”. One experiment found participants were more likely to volunteer for a charity after reading words such as ‘community’ and ‘relationships’ than those given neutral terms, such as ‘lamp’. Another test…
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Written on September 30, 2011 at 8:48 am, by Anna
Laura Ferguson, Director of Campaign to End Loneliness, discusses the human context to the new Age Action Alliance. It is likely that you understand what it feels to be lonely. It is a human emotion that many of us have experience of at some point in our lives. But how many of us really understand…
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