Demonstrating the value of befriending
Members of the Tackling Loneliness Hub recently came together for a workshop on how befriending projects can demonstrate and measure impact. This blog provides a…
Sharing people’s lived experience through participatory arts
El Smithies, Relationship Manager at participatory arts organisation Made by Mortals, explains how they are building a community of creative citizens to bring about change. …
Loneliness in life stories by Chinese older migrants in the UK: a linguistics ethnography
Olivia (Xuechun) Xiang is a sociolinguistic PhD candidate at Queen Mary University of London. In this blog, she introduces her research on how elderly Chinese…
Let’s Talk About Loss and the loneliness of being bereaved young
Hub member Beth French was 20 when her mum died. She set up Let’s Talk About Loss, a UK-wide charity supporting young grievers aged 18…
Loneliness evaluation: design and data gathering
Members of the Tackling Loneliness Hub recently came together for a workshop on loneliness evaluation design and data gathering, the first in a two-part workshop…
Time to Care: Sky’s befriending programme
Anna Cook, Managing Director of Service at Sky, shares insights into Sky’s commitment to tackling loneliness through their Time to Care programme, focusing on their…
Addressing loneliness in the workplace
Earlier this month, members of the Tackling Loneliness Hub came together for a workshop on Addressing Loneliness in the Workplace. This blog provides a brief…
The Tackling Loneliness Collaborative in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
Kirsty Veitch-Sorsby is the Lead for the Tackling Loneliness Collaborative (TLC) – Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Here she tells us about what they do and the exciting…
The 32 steps to togetherness movement
What can we do to strengthen community cohesion? For Loneliness Awareness Week, we spoke with Lucy Walmsley, Senior Associate at Civil Society Consulting CIC, on…
Bringing communities together for Thank You Day
Fazila Aswat, Coalition and Communities Engagement Manager at Together, shows how you can get involved in Thank You Day on Sunday 5 June. Playing a…
Loneliness can be useful, but only if we target our response to it properly
Harry Hobson, Founder and Director of the Neighbourly Lab, shares findings from the Reconceptualising Loneliness in London report and how we can effectively target our…
Reflections on loneliness: the Age UK perspective
We spoke with Hannah Pearce, outgoing Head of External Affairs at Age UK, on what she learned from representing the issues facing older people during…
Learnings on youth loneliness from the Great Winter Get Together
Su Moore, Chief Executive of the Jo Cox Foundation, shares how the Great Winter Get Together shone a light on the issue of youth loneliness. …
Social Prescribing Day 2022 – Social Prescribing at NHSPS
To mark Social Prescribing Day (Thursday 10 March 2022) Hub member Raissa Ishagi talks about the work happening at NHS Property Services. At NHSPS, we’re…
Why newly-arrived refugees need immediate support for loneliness
We hear from Tim Leech, Chief Executive at WaveLength, who talks about how immediate support for newly-arrived refugees can provide the means to connect. A…
Lifting Someone Out of Loneliness
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a trainer shaped balloon lifting someone into the sky – and all for very good…
Tackling loneliness the digital champion way
Emma Weston OBE, Chief Executive of Digital Unite discusses the peer-to-peer model of providing digital skills support and how it is effective in reducing the…
Belong Collective: addressing youth loneliness
Shernyse Lee, Head of Network Development at UK Youth, shares the latest updates on the re-launch of the Belong Collective. What is the Belong Collective?…
Sport and Recreation Alliance: making connections through sport
Lisa Wainwright MBE, CEO of Sport and Recreation Alliance, shares insights on the value of sport and how attending dance classes can help people to…
The role of arts and culture in helping to reduce loneliness
Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England, discusses the role that creativity and culture can play in helping to reduce loneliness. It is almost…
Samaritans: supporting people this Christmas
Jack O’Neil, Policy Officer at Samaritans, highlights the support available to make sure that nobody feels alone at Christmas. With Christmas lights adorning the streets…
Northumberland’s hybrid approach to tackling loneliness and social isolation
Vanessa Easton, Assets and Community Engagement Manager at Northumberland Communities Together, discusses how Northumberland County Council are adapting their services in a hybrid way to…
Reducing the toll of loneliness in older adults: NIHR launches collection of loneliness research
How can we reduce the toll of loneliness in older adults? Helen Saul, Editor-in-Chief at NIHR Evidence writes with news of a new collection of…
How do we bring loneliness professionals together?
Jenny Manchester from the Campaign to End Loneliness invites members of the Tackling Loneliness Hub to get involved in the Loneliness Beyond Covid-19 conference, an…
Helping young people talk about loneliness: a new campaign from Lonely Not Alone
Nick Crofts, Co-op Foundation CEO tells us more about the launch of the Lonely Not Alone campaign and why the stigma of youth loneliness matters.…
East London Cares: creating intergenerational connections through volunteering
How do community volunteering programmes help tackle loneliness and social isolation? We hear from Roxi Rustem, Head of Programmes at East London Cares, on how…
The importance of tackling loneliness through the work of health and social care practitioners
Libby Potter, Head of Portfolio Health Education England, explains why tackling loneliness is so important and gives and update on the the HEE/PHE e-learning loneliness…
New research shows why tackling youth loneliness matters
Andy Mortimer, Co-op Foundation Head of Comms and Lonely Not Alone campaign lead highlights the latest research which shows why tackling youth loneliness matters. For more than…
ACS Wellbeing Guide: learnings on loneliness
Steve Dowling (Association of Convenience Stores) explains how the ACS Wellbeing Guide is helping people running and working in local shops to flourish in the…
Opening Doors London: befriending services for LGBTQ+ people over 50
Laura Benin, Communications Officer at Opening Doors London, writes about Opening Doors London’s befriending service and how it gives LGBTQ+ members the chance to fully…
Podcasts on loneliness
Members from the Tackling Loneliness Hub have been sharing recommendations for podcasts about loneliness that have made us stop, think, and feel more connected. Whether…
Ageing Better Camden: tackling loneliness before and during Covid-19
Annabel Collins, Programme Manager at Ageing Better in Camden and Rob Francis, Associate Director at Traverse share an evaluation of the Ageing Better in Camden…
What does the latest research tell us about the impact of Covid-19 on loneliness?
This week’s blog by Jenny Manchester from the Campaign to End Loneliness explains what we now know from three pieces of research all published at…
Left out of Life: Sense’s latest campaign to tackle loneliness among disabled people
Hub member Lizzie Green, Campaign Manager at Sense, talks about the charity’s latest campaign and how we can all play a part in making our…
Loneliness Beyond Covid: applying lessons from the pandemic for a less lonely future
Robin Hewings discusses findings from the Loneliness Beyond Covid-19 report by the Campaign to End Loneliness – the biggest ever review of the impact of…
Bee Together: reducing loneliness and social isolation in older people with learning disabilities
Hub member Jessica Duffy shares learnings from Bee Together, a project which aimed to find creative ways of combatting feelings of loneliness and social isolation…
The lonely bookshelf: top 7 books to read this Summer
Members of the Tackling Loneliness Hub have been sharing recommendations for books which are themed around loneliness. Are you looking for a book which offers…
Covid-WIRED: Mapping the evidence on the unequal wellbeing impacts of the pandemic
Nicola Robbins, Media and Communications Manager with the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, tells us about the organisation’s recently launched Covid-WIRED initiative. Covid-WIRED Wellbeing is…
Tackling Loneliness with The Big Lunch
Sharing a meal can be a great way to bring people together. We asked Adele Hunt, who many of you know supported the Hub on…
Lonely Not Alone: Co-op Foundation’s campaign to tackle youth loneliness
Nick Crofts, Co-op Foundation CEO, shares some information about the Lonely Not Alone campaign which is aimed at tackling youth loneliness. Lonely Not Alone –…
Buses: the original social network to tackle loneliness
We asked Hub member Katy Taylor from leading transport company the ‘Go-Ahead group’ to to tell us about the work they have done to use…
New e-learning tool launched for health and social care
With Health Education England hosting their Tackling Loneliness Webinar on 30 June, we’re joined by Dr Kalpa Kharicha in today’s guest blog. Kalpa will be…
Learning from the Building Connections Fund
Thomas Abrams, Senior Consultant at NPC, shares some best practice insights from the Building Connections Fund, with a particular focus on the shift to online…
How libraries help the tackling loneliness agenda
Carol Stump, Chief Librarian for Kirklees Council and President of Libraries Connected joins us this week as our guest blogger. Carol has seen many changes…
Addressing loneliness for entry-level employees
Tristram Hooley, Chief Research Officer with the Institute of Student Employers, tells us why the best inductions of new staff include actions that help prevent…
The Care Leaver Covenant: what you can do
Minister for Civil Society, Baroness Barran, highlights the Care Leaver Covenant and makes a specific request for you to pledge practical support. The Care Leaver…
Why must organisations understand loneliness and ageing? The IBM perspective
Heather Fraser, Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Lead at IBM Institute for Business Value, talks to us about the role organisations play in tackling loneliness.…
Loneliness: how far have we come?
Paul Cann, Chair of the Campaign to End Loneliness, explains the context to the work done so far to tackle loneliness and to reiterate why…
Getting started: our recommended reading list
Research, policy, and practice helps to shape our understanding of loneliness and its impact on health and society. There are a range of resources to develop…
