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A new call to action to tackle loneliness and build community
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This week we joined forces with 13 partners to launch a new Call to Action for a future government to prioritise tackling loneliness and building community. Developed in collaboration with over one hundred sector partners, we are setting out a unified call for what needs to be done to tackle loneliness and to support the organisations and individuals who work on this critical issue. The call to action makes the case for:
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- A refreshed strategy that sets out clear, measurable objectives, is backed with funding, and developed in collaboration with people with lived experience and expert organisations.
- Renewed national leadership on loneliness and connection, including reappointing a dedicated Minister for Loneliness to lead a refreshed national strategy, overseen by the Prime Minister, and supported by a cross-governmental team.
- Priority actions that include rebuilding communities, by supporting local authorities to address loneliness and investing in our built environment; ensuring our services are well equipped to address loneliness, from the voluntary and community sector to the NHS; and supporting cross-sector action.
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What we are thinking about
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A new review published by the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) brings together international evidence showing that loneliness affects the most disadvantaged groups of society more than others, and that to tackle loneliness we must combat discrimination and social exclusion, and reduce inequality.
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Authored by some of the UK’s leading scholars of loneliness - Professor Manuela Barreto, Professor Pam Qualter and Dr David Doyle – the review outlines the relationship between forms of inequality and loneliness, and provides a compelling case to end loneliness by focusing on the role that people, policy and public services play in making our societies and communities more inclusive and equal.
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Thank you to everyone who came along to this Tackling Loneliness Hub event and contributed to the discussion. The Hub is open to anyone in England working on loneliness and you are invited to join. You can now watch the recording from the event and access the write-up from the breakout groups in the Loneliness Evaluation members' area.
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In the latest episode of Common Ground, Robin Hewings breaks down how the built environment impacts our well-being and author and Academic Barry Golding speaks about the phenomenon of Men’s Sheds in Australia and beyond and Philip Nichols CEO of Spitalfields City Farm talks to us about the benefits of community gardens.
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Ready Generations is a Liverpool based charity working to connect people of all ages. In this blog post for the Tackling Loneliness Hub, Sue Egersdorff, Co-Founder of the charity reflects on their largest project – running a fully integrated children’s nursery in the heart of a care village in Chester, UK.
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What we are reading
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This Dutch study aimed to investigate whether differences in loneliness among different ethnic minority groups – Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese and native Dutch citizens - can be explained by differences in the prevalence or impact of risk factors for loneliness. It drew on data from a Public Health Services questionnaire carried out with adults in four cities. Analysis showed that group differences in loneliness could be explained by demographic, socioeconomic, health, and neighbourhood factors and perceived discrimination.
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This Australian research involves analysis of four waves of data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (2006-18) for those aged 50+. It examines differences in loneliness between different ethnic groups: Australian born, not Indigenous; Australian born, Indigenous Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander origin (Indigenous Australians); migrant, from an English-speaking country; and migrant, from a non-English-speaking country. It then tests the extent to which differences are mediated by neighbourhood conditions and neighbourhood satisfaction.
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This article presents a scoping review of studies across the world examining factors contributing to loneliness among Black older people, citing evidence that factors contributing to their loneliness are different from other ethnic groups because of the disproportionate disadvantages they experience. The review identified 27 studies carried out in USA, Nigeria, S Africa, Ghana, Canada, UK and Uganda. Findings from the studies are mapped against Weiss’s ‘social provisions framework’ of factors which influence loneliness: social integration, guidance, reliable alliance, opportunity for nurturance, attachment, and reassurance of worth.
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Dates for your diary
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11 October - 12.00-13.15 - Online
Join the Co-op Foundation on Wednesday 11 October as they share everything they have learned from their youth-led campaign to tackle the stigma of youth loneliness, Lonely Not Alone.
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17 October - 18.00-17.30 - Online
Join Lucy Rose, founder of The Cost of Loneliness Project, and Jeremy Abbate, Publisher of Scientific American, in a virtual fireside chat with Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Brigham Young University.
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1 November - 09.30-12.30 - Online
Join the Befriending Networks National Conference in November as they launch their celebrations of Befriending Week 2023.
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Anytime - Online
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Drawing on our expertise in loneliness and connection, our Loneliness Explored e-learning module is designed to help individuals understand the risk factors for loneliness and how it can affect our mental and physical health, as well as promising approaches that can help.
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Donate to the Campaign
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We believe that people of all ages need connections that matter. We have been experts in the field of loneliness and connection since 2011 and our vision is that everyone can live a life free from chronic loneliness.
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Get in touch
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Do you have news or thoughts that you would like to share with people working on loneliness and others who are interested? Email info@ctel.blazeoven.co.uk.uk
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