LONELINESS“Language... has created the word

"loneliness" to express the pain of being alone.  And it has created the word

"solitude" to express the glory of being alone.” - Paul Johannes Tillich

• A mismatch of the relationships we have and

those we want

• An internal trigger telling us to seek company

as thirst tells us to drink and hunger tells us to

eat

• Isolation is often where there is no choice but

to be alone

• Some people seek solitude, but few choose to be

lonely, primarily because it isn’t good for us

What exactly is loneliness?

Loneliness = A serious risk to health

Loneliness harms our mental and physical health

Lonely people:

•Are vulnerable to alcohol problems

•Eat less well – they are less likely to eat fruit and vegetables

•Are more likely to be smokers and more likely to be overweight

•Are less likely to engage in physical activity and exercise

• Place based approach to loneliness of any one of any age

• Asset based approach to community development

• Working with people in their neighbourhood to explore

what contributes to feelings of

overwhelming/problematic loneliness

• Exploring factors like location, health and wellbeing,

safety, independence, life transitions

• Developing and putting into practice local ideas and

activities to reduce the effects of loneliness

• Making every contact and conversation count

A neighbourhood approach

The neighbourhoods – York

Carr EstateYoung familiesMixed tenure housingDebt problemsFew natural meeting placesLittle community focus

New EarswickAgeing population High levels of unpaid carersPlentiful meeting spacesRowntree model villageProgramme fatigue?

The neighbourhoods – Bradford

DenholmeRuralOlder population Poor public transportActive town councilLocal meeting places

Bradford MoorUrban areaEthnically diverseOvercrowded housingEconomically deprivedHigh drug and unemployment rates

• Recruited, trained and retained 32 community researchers in Participatory Learning and Action in all four neighbourhoods

• Community researchers gathered information, undertook outreach and all fieldwork and analysis and spoke to over 100 stakeholders

• Talking to over 2000 people gathering almost 7667 individual comments

Local people leading the way

Action Research using PLA

What are the issues affecting people in the four neighbourhoods

• Members of the neighbourhoods came up with over 1000 ideas to reduce loneliness

• An average of 65 ideas were prioritised in each neighbourhood and shared with community partners and local stakeholders

• Community researchers in the neighbourhoods have done planning, negotiation and project management training

• Each neighbourhood has reduced (not easy!) these ideas to 5 priorities which they are now putting into practice

• Community researchers are now activists – sharing the key messages

From actions to ideas

What is now happening

Get2gether

Community Market

Confidence group

Home visiting

CARR CONNECTORS

Pop-up CaféWorking with local church &

children centre

NELLI

Parents play group

Community allotments Nelli munch

Community activists contributing to further work: Local meetings/ initiative and groupsPresentations promotionMedia and marketing

ONE DENHOLME

Walking groupFilm club

App/ face book G.P’s out reach

Key messages from the programme

• Loneliness kills people and communities

• Regulation kills kindness and reduces action

• Lonely people are vulnerable, this is a safeguarding issue

• Building personal and community confidence builds community resilience

• Accept it gets messy and give yourself permission to take risks

• The stepping stones to engagement and education need to be put back

• There is a real contradiction between society’s ideals and individual experience

• You can take the ideas out of the process. You cannot take the process away from the ideas

Key messages from the programme

Anyone can be lonely, even busy people.Anyone can reduce loneliness – their own or others

• How do we make every contact count?

• How do we look after the health and wellbeing of our

communities, congregations, colleagues and ourselves?

• How do we give the gift of time when we lead such busy

lives?

• How do we resource prevention in hard times?

• How do we ensure that our community assets are

community hubs used to their full potential and open to all?

• Let’s see how we can all talk about loneliness

Wot… no time ?

Overall headline Evaluation findings

• Those closest to the programme have benefited most• Personal change and growth boosts resilience to

protect against loneliness in the future• Some tangible gains such as gaining employment • The neighbourhoods with community assets already in

place showed the greatest impact• Distance travelled in neighbourhoods with few

community assets was higher • Pivotal strength was the community development

approach and pastoral support• The skills and attributes of programme manager were

instrumental in achieving this

Professionally

Personally

• This resource pack brings together the lessons and experiences from the programme and includes:

• Living with loneliness? – a four-page summary of the causes of loneliness, with infographics;

• Let’s talk about loneliness – a four-page summary of ideas and actions to reduce loneliness, with infographics;

• Neighbourhood approaches to loneliness: our stories – a collection of case studies from some of the people involved;

• Working with your community to address loneliness – top tips from our external evaluators;

• Can do – guidance and tips for negotiating community action; • How you can reduce loneliness in your neighbourhood (the process); • Let’s talk about loneliness session plans – five one-hour group work

sessions to get you thinking and talking about loneliness. • Lets talk about loneliness - a short film featuring interviews with the

communities involved in our research

Free resources