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
Loneliness Awareness Week: 5 – 11 August
This Loneliness Awareness Week, Ending Loneliness Together is sharing real stories to spark conversations about why we feel lonely and encouraging all Australians to create a culture of connection at home, work, school and in the community.
Hear from Australians about their experiences of loneliness, download free practical resources, and learn how you can create opportunities for meaningful social connections.
South Australia
The Plug-in, an initiative of COTA SA
During the month of July, The Plug-in, an initiative of COTA SA, invited people to take part in their newest project – an opportunity to shape a new social program for city residents aged 50+.
COTA SA and City of Adelaide’s Healthy Ageing team have now completed a series of workshops for Adelaide and North Adelaide residents to share their insights and knowledge.
Although the workshops are now complete, people can still contact the Plug-In Team to help design a holistic new social program for city residents.
Australia
New Memory cafes in Western Australia
A special kind of get-together takes place on the last Monday of every month in Bunbury, 200 kilometres south of Perth.
People living with dementia and their carers meet at a cafe for cakes, coffee and camaraderie.
Memory cafes create friendly communities for people living with dementia.
Participants Jenny and Peter say, "the more people that know about the memory cafe the better because it's fabulous being able to make new friends and have someone to talk to."
There are about 24 memory cafes operating in WA, with most operating in metropolitan areas of Perth.
Village Hubs program concludes
In 2021, ILA was appointed as the National Grants Manager for the administration of the Village Hubs project, an initiative of the Australian Government’s Seniors Connected Program.
ILA established 12 Village Hubs nationally and worked with them to reduce the impact of loneliness and social isolation amongst older people through a co-designed, community-led initiatives.
Each Hub offered a variety of community connection activities to support mental, physical, and social health and wellbeing.
Although the Village Hubs Grants Program ended in June 2024, many of the hubs continue to serve their community to help reduce loneliness and social isolation.
New program promotes social connection
A pilot program based on a successful digitally-enabled social inclusion initiative from Italy has just launched in Victoria to deliver interactive activities for aged care residents such as chair-based yoga and following the journey of a guide dog puppy in training.
The "Ciao!” Program in Australia will offer opportunities for residents to engage within and between facilities via digitally-enabled interactive activities which aim to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
New Queensland Community of Practice for loneliness
The first meeting for QCOSS' new Community of Practice was on 24 July for those working with people who experience social isolation and loneliness.
A Parliamentary Inquiry in 2022 recommended that the Queensland Government establish a network of frontline professionals involved in preventing and responding to social isolation and loneliness, to build capacity in the sector and support professional development.
The Community of Practice will provide an opportunity to share experiences, resources and learnings on social isolation and loneliness and best practice ideas for building community connection.
Join the Ending Loneliness Directory
Does your organisation support people experiencing loneliness?
Ending Loneliness Together are looking for more groups and organisations to join their national directory so more Australian’s can find connection.
Join the growing number of community organisations and services working to provide solutions for loneliness and enhance social connection.
International
Socially connected communities network webinar
Healthy Places by Design’s hosted an online webinar in July on Socially Connected Communities focused on Building and Sustaining Resilient and Socially Connected Communities.
The recording is made available on Healthy Places by Design’s YouTube channel for public access.
Hinge working to decrease loneliness amongst young adults
In connection with Global Loneliness Awareness Week and as a part of its social impact program, One More Hour, Hinge recently unveiled its inaugural cohort of social groups who will receive a combined $1M in total funding to advance their efforts in redefining how young adults find in-person connections in their local neighborhoods.
Each group – most of which were founded post-pandemic and have an overwhelming number of Gen Z participants – will receive a $25,000 One More Hour grant to expand the accessibility of their resources and events while also easing the challenges founders face.
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