Welcome to the Uniting Communities Overcoming Loneliness monthly e-news. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest news about loneliness initiatives, research, innovative case studies and data.
Overcoming Loneliness replaces the former Teams platform and Not Alone newsletters.
If you have a story to share about how your work or organisation is overcoming loneliness, please contact us at advocacy@unitingcommunities.org
South Australia
COTA visitors – Looking for volunteers
COTA SA's Visitors program is calling for more volunteers to join the initiative. The program aims to help create valuable and rewarding connections, by pairing friendly volunteers with older people who live alone and are at risk of loneliness or social isolation.
Recently recruited volunteer Shervin Shokri visits Lorraine fortnightly, an older person at risk of loneliness, and loves their mutually strong friendship.
“I am studying Healthcare Management and felt I would like to support the community. I searched online and found this volunteer opportunity. I contacted a few providers and COTA SA got back to me immediately and helped me start my volunteering,” Shervin said.
Future Directions to Safeguard the Rights of Older South Australians 2023-2027 - Connected people and communities
South Australia’s Office for Ageing Well, is committed to a whole-of-life-course approach to the health and wellbeing of older South Australians, as outlined in South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025.
Extensive consultation with a wide range of older people, stakeholders and partners, has shaped Future Directions to Safeguard the Rights of Older South Australians 2023-2027 (PDF 2MB), which sets the statewide direction, strategic priorities and conditions to raise awareness of, and prevent and respond to abuse and mistreatment of older people.
Strategic priorities included ‘Connected People and Communities’- Older South Australians have the opportunity to create and maintain meaningful connections to people and communities to reduce social isolation and loneliness.
Australia
We are Lonely Podcast – Australia’s most connected generation is also the most lonely
Medibank has launched a new series of its popular We Are Lonely podcast, which follows four very different people in their 20’s on their search for connection. Holly disconnected from her friends after experiencing PTSD due to a significant trauma; Tim moved from Perth to Melbourne just as everyone went into lockdown; Charity lost confidence in herself and suffers anxiety in social situations; while Aleks prioritises work over spending time with the people he loves. Their stories highlight the reality of loneliness in Australia, as experienced by a generation that theoretically has never been more connected.
Each person is paired with a mentor and experts to help them build strategies to reconnect and over six episodes they explore why loneliness occurs, the importance of self-discovery, redefining friendships, the impacts of social media and technology and ways to connect.
Presented by The Psychology of your 20’s host Jemma Sbeg, the podcast is supported with a range of information and resources on the We Are Lonely site.
Listen now
State of the nation report: social connection in Australia
Ending Loneliness Together launched their new state of the nation report. The aim of this study was to understand the distribution of social health across the Australian population and examine the relationships between loneliness and social isolation and community knowledge, stigma, physical and mental health, health service utilisation, quality of life, and work productivity.
Findings include:
1 in 6 Australians are experiencing severe loneliness.
69% of Australians recognise loneliness as a serious issue for our community.
Only 30% of Australians say they’re knowledgeable in helping other people who are feeling lonely.
Ending Loneliness Together Launched Australian Loneliness Awareness Week (7-13 August)
Ending Loneliness Together created a range of resources for Loneliness Awareness Week including videos from people with lived experience and resources for educating others on the issue.
They created a loneliness awareness training to find out more about loneliness and learn how to help others who may be experiencing loneliness. Take the training today.
How to beat loneliness – virtually and in real life – National Seniors Australia
Seniors are reaching out to each other through an online interactive project called Planet WellBeing. In Britain, Sheffield Hallam University, Age UK, and technology provider Pixelmill Digital have joined forces to do something to counter loneliness in the elderly, using “extended reality” in a project they’ve called Planet WellBeing.
The researchers have developed age-friendly technology – headsets that older people can wear to capture their real-world physical actions and use them to navigate and interact with a virtual world.
AIA announces team-up for Australia’s first Loneliness Awareness Week
AIA Australia has teamed up with national authority Ending Loneliness Together to bring awareness to workplace loneliness for Australia’s first Loneliness Awareness Week.
The latest partnership will see the launch of a corporate awareness program in early 2024 to provide workplaces with the right tools to address loneliness.
Queensland - Communities Innovation Fund: Responses to Social Isolation and Loneliness
The Communities Innovation Fund provided up to $200,000 per year to community organisations for innovative services that create meaningful connections for Queenslanders experiencing social isolation and loneliness.
As a key priority of Communities 2032, the Communities Innovation Fund is focused on initiatives that combat social isolation and loneliness in Queensland communities.
Read more about the different grant recipients and what they are doing to reduce loneliness
International
Foundation for Social Connection - Online event: Building Connected Communities – (US)
This is a national event to address the social isolation and loneliness crisis and inspire united action for more socially connected communities.
On October 12-14, 2023, Foundation for Social Connection are inviting national and state policymakers, mayors, community leaders, academics, researchers, and more to gather at Harvard University's campus and in the surrounding Boston community to learn and share insights on how we can collectively build more socially connected communities.
President Biden speech – expanding care, including loneliness (US)
Biden said his administration needs to address prevention and the root cause of pain and trauma people feel, like loneliness, isolation, social media, online bullying and gun violence. "It's important for people to realize they're not alone," he said. "That's what I want everyone to want. Everyone in America, not to feel isolated."
Design for Social Prescribing (US)
Are you interested in the idea of social prescribing to foster greater social connection? Check out this Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health report, "Design for Social Prescribing: Bridging Silos for Health Promotion"!
In addition to presenting the case for social prescribing, it also details the pathways explored, key findings, and recommended next steps to implement this strategy.
The Togetherness Hub (international)
The Togetherness Hub is an international & interdisciplinary community platform, which aims to unite global thought leaders, researchers and projects on Social Health, Loneliness Interventions & the Future of Human Connection.
They are striving to help governments, companies, organisations, educators and individuals understand the importance of Social Health, reduce the stigmatisation surrounding Loneliness and are committed as a community to create a future, where every individual has the possibility to find connection & belonging.
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