Our December 2024 Newsletter
The festive season is often portrayed as a time of joy, togetherness, and celebration. Yet for many, it can heighten feelings of loneliness and isolation. The focus on family gatherings, social events, and shared traditions can act as a stark reminder of what might be missing in someone’s life—whether that’s the absence of loved ones, physical distance, or a lack of meaningful connections. Even those surrounded by others can feel lonely if they lack a sense of belonging or emotional closeness.
Maintaining and nurturing social connections during this time of year is m’ore important than ever. Reaching out to others, offering support, or engaging in small acts of kindness can make a real difference—both for those offering and receiving the support. Whether it’s attending a local community event, checking in on a neighbour, or taking the time to call a friend, these moments of connection can remind us of the power of human interaction. This festive period, let’s prioritise inclusion and compassion, ensuring no one feels overlooked or forgotten, and let’s continue the fight to end loneliness.
We’ve shared lots of stories, articles, reports and events in this edition to serve as a reminder of all the great work being done to help those experiencing loneliness, and as encouraging proof that this is being taken seriously by community members, researchers, and organisations.
The festive season is often portrayed as a time of joy, togetherness, and celebration. Yet for many, it can heighten feelings of loneliness and isolation. The focus on family gatherings, social events, and shared traditions can act as a stark reminder of what might be missing in someone’s life—whether that’s the absence of loved ones, physical distance, or a lack of meaningful connections. Even those surrounded by others can feel lonely if they lack a sense of belonging or emotional closeness.
Maintaining and nurturing social connections during this time of year is m’ore important than ever. Reaching out to others, offering support, or engaging in small acts of kindness can make a real difference—both for those offering and receiving the support. Whether it’s attending a local community event, checking in on a neighbour, or taking the time to call a friend, these moments of connection can remind us of the power of human interaction. This festive period, let’s prioritise inclusion and compassion, ensuring no one feels overlooked or forgotten, and let’s continue the fight to end loneliness.
We’ve shared lots of stories, articles, reports and events in this edition to serve as a reminder of all the great work being done to help those experiencing loneliness, and as encouraging proof that this is being taken seriously by community members, researchers, and organisations.
What we are thinking about
British Geriatrics Society (BGS) / Dunhill Medical Trust (DMT) Joint Doctoral Training Fellowship
The BGS and DMT have partnered up to co-fund a Doctoral Training Fellowship aimed at supporting front-line health professionals with an interest in developing a career in ageing-related research.
The groups are particularly interested in research with the potential to improve the health and social care of older people within 5 years of the end of the grant.
The Fellowship is intended to be flexible and may be undertaken on either a full-time or part-time basis. Full-time Fellowships will be awarded for a maximum period of 3 years, whereas part-time Fellowships can be awarded for a maximum of 6 years.
We at the Campaign would love to support an applicant in their project, so if you’re interested in undertaking a PhD on loneliness in older people or know someone who might be, take a look at the pre-announcement below and contact us if you’d like to discuss a plan for a project.
Loneliness and fraud at Christmas
The Campaign to End Loneliness has teamed up with Take Five to Stop Fraud to raise awareness of fraud and scams over the Christmas period.
For many people, this time of year can feel particularly lonely and isolating. So, when we receive a call or email from someone claiming to be the bank, police or a potential friend or love interest, we may be more likely to respond. Criminals will exploit the goodwill of the season to manipulate people into parting with their money or information.
Impersonation and romance scams are particularly pernicious, with criminals spending hours researching people for these scams, and using that information to befriend us or gain our trust. Not having a trusted person in our lives to sense check things with can also increase our likelihood of falling victim to some types of scams.
In the first half of 2024, criminals stole £32.3m through impersonation of bank staff and police, and £14.5m through romance scams. Romance scams have an average of over ten scams per case, a devastating figure which shows how criminals are able to repeatedly steal money from people.
In the run up to Christmas, we’re urging everyone to follow the Take Five advice to ‘Stop, Challenge and Protect’ when faced with requests for personal or financial information. Find out more on the Take Five to Stop Fraud website, and keep an eye out for our press and social media activity coming this month.
Fighting Loneliness with Laughter
The team at Craic are aiming to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation, along with other mental health measures such as anxiety, by prescribing the medicine of laughter!
From their website:
“At Craic, our mission is to lead a cultural shift by making comedy accessible to everyone. We aim to unite people – locally and globally – through the shared joy of laughter.
We believe comedy is an untapped opportunity to improve health and wellbeing. Our goal is to make comedy easier to access and help communities experience its mental health and social benefits.”
You can access the site below to view their events. Whilst these mostly take place in Westminster, the events page could serve as inspiration to get involved or even host similar events to tackle loneliness with laughter.
Low Wellbeing in the UK: Tackling the Crisis
Despite the UK’s economic wealth, wellbeing levels are declining. The report reveals that there are 780,000 more adults experiencing low wellbeing in 2023 compared to 2018. Key findings include:
- Mental Health: Adults with ongoing mental health challenges are 18 times more likely to experience low wellbeing.
- Physical Health: Poor general health increases the likelihood of low wellbeing by 12 times.
- Social Connection: Chronic loneliness affects 5 million adults, making them 12 times more likely to report low wellbeing.
Beyond the personal impact, the economic costs are significant. The report estimates that halving the number of adults below the wellbeing poverty line could yield £54 billion annually in economic benefits. Addressing chronic loneliness alone could eliminate 1 million GP appointments and prevent 100,000 hospital admissions each year.
To combat this crisis, Pro Bono Economics urges policymakers to:
- Prioritize Ending Low Wellbeing: Develop a national plan with measurable goals.
- Address Loneliness Directly: Publish an updated strategy to expand support for the 5 million adults facing chronic loneliness.
- Increase Funding: Strengthen philanthropic and governmental support for organizations tackling these challenges.
- Empower the Social Sector: Equip charities with tools to measure and demonstrate their impact.
We invite you to read the full report, available above.
A Christmas Party for Those Facing Loneliness
One Day at Christmas have hosted 8 simultaneous Christmas parties for over 2,000 people in an effort to bring those facing loneliness together and fight social isolation.
The event reminds us of the efforts small and large organisations are putting in to help fight loneliness and serves as an inspiration to reach out to others and get involved with similar events.
As one attendee from Coventry said:
“I needed something as I felt like I had nothing left in my life, but now I have…
[the social groups had] snowballed into a group of new friends”
Members from the Campaign to End Loneliness team recently ran an event at Sheffield Hallam University’s “Festive Gather”, and it was fantastic to see people coming together, talking about their experiences of loneliness, and start forming connections with others, especially at what can be a difficult time of year for some.
Loneliness around the globe
Placing Social Connection at the Heart of Public Policy in the United Kingdom and Australia
UCL and The University of Sydney have teamed up to host a roundtable to highlight the importance of putting social connection at the heart of UK and Australian policy. The following summarises the report you can find in the link to the report below:
“This publication summarises the discussions and outcomes of a roundtable on the Future of Social Connection held at University College London, which brought together recognised UK expert stakeholders on social connection, including psychiatrists and psychologists, social scientists, community organisers, campaigners, advocates, and policymakers. Together they reflected on the best available academic and community evidence, and collaboratively charted innovative, impactful and sustainable strategies to combat loneliness strengthen social connection into the future.”
The report gives some interesting insight into the importance of addressing loneliness through social connection, and also represents a call to action for more research to be done in the area.
Loneliness in Europe. Determinants, Risks and Interventions
In case you missed it on our social media channels, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has published a new book. The book is open access and available in the link below. A summary of the book is provided here:
“Loneliness, often referred to as the ‘epidemic of the 21st century’, has emerged as a grave public health concern. For years, a lack of comprehensive European cross-national data hindered a thorough examination of this issue. In 2022, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre conducted the inaugural EU Loneliness Survey, covering around 30,000 individuals in 27 European nations.
The book sheds light on who is most affected by loneliness, identifies contributing experiences and behaviours, addresses the stigmatisation of loneliness and discusses its societal impact. Furthermore, it emphasises the importance of interventions to combat loneliness. Finally, the book discusses the challenges of survey design and offers valuable insights for the monitoring of loneliness in Europe in the future. This makes the book a must-read for scholars and academics interested in population economics, public health and social well-being.”
WHO Commission on Social Connection
An update from the WHO commission:
“At the margins of the World Health Assembly earlier this year, the governments of Chile and the United States of America, with the support of the governments of Sweden and Morocco – all countries represented on the WHO Commission on Social Connection – publicly announced their intent to pursue a first-ever World Health Assembly resolution on social connection.
Exciting news: a proposal has been accepted for such a resolution to be presented to the WHO Executive Board in January 2025. Over the coming months, Chile, Japan, Morocco, Spain, and the United States of America will support the process of creating and negotiating a draft resolution to be presented to the Executive Board.
If agreed, the resolution will be considered for adoption at the next World Health Assembly in May 2025.”
We’ll keep you up to date on any further developments.
On our reading list
You are not alone in feeling lonely: Loneliness in later life
Age UK have just published their report on loneliness in older adults. The report is a great resource for how to define and recognise loneliness, presents evidence around the subject of loneliness, and provides recommendations for what needs to be done about it.
The report has a focus on older adults but has lots of really useful information for those interested in learning more about loneliness.
Read the report above.
‘Nobody should be alone’: Loneliness at Christmas is on the rise – here’s a great way to change that
This article from Big Issue discusses an app designed to help facilitate forming new connections. The article also features our own Prof. Andrea Wigfield, and reminds us that whilst apps can be useful in forming connections, they shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for in-person social connection.
Clinical and lifestyle predictors of loneliness: A two-year longitudinal study
This longitudinal study based in Brazil analysed clinical and lifestyle predictors of loneliness. The article finds that…
“Several clinical factors (depression, anxiety, alcohol, and cannabis) have been identified as risk factors for loneliness, while lifestyle factors (physical activity, better quality of sleep, and family relationships) have been associated with a lower incidence of loneliness.”
You can read the full article above.
Misnomers of Modern Malaise: Stop calling loneliness an epidemic
This interesting and thought-provoking post provides a word of warning against mislabelling widespread loneliness as an epidemic. From the authors, Dr Hans Rocha IJzerman and Dr Marlies Maes:
“The words we use to describe social issues shape both public perception and the strategies we develop to address them. This is especially true in discussions about chronic loneliness—a serious and widespread condition, but not one accurately termed an “epidemic.” Despite frequent references to loneliness as such in contemporary debates, evidence from sources like Your World in Data, De Correspondent, and sociologist Eric Klinenberg suggests that “epidemic” is a misnomer. This post explores why labeling loneliness as an epidemic can misdirect our focus, potentially overlooking the true causes and solutions of loneliness.”
Read the full post above.
This article shares findings that increased internet use is associated with better outcomes for mental health. The findings have relevance for the sharing and promotion of improving mental health practices and outcomes through the internet.
Read the full article here.
This article for the Harvard Business Review the authors, Dr Constance Noonan Hadley and Dr Sarah Wright, discuss myths about work loneliness and emphasise that loneliness is not just a personal problem but also an organisational one, influenced by the work environment.
The team also have more interesting resources and tools available on their site which you can find by following the link in the title.
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