Neighbourhood approaches to lonelinessThe tale of two cities

Tracey RobbinsJRF

• 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

• Loneliness describes the pain of being alone as solitude

describes the joy of being alone

• 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 in the UK

Almost half of adults in England say they experience feelings of 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

• Asset based community development, action research

• 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 - Action Research

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 (PLA) 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

Wider society:• Transport• Physical environment • Community• Housing • Technology • Crime• Population changes

Personal:• Poor health• Sensory loss• Loss of mobility• Less income• Bereavement• Being out of work• Other change, e.g. becoming a carer

A range of ‘risk factors’ increase our vulnerability to loneliness:

What causes loneliness?

• 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

BRADFORD MOOR

Community Market

Confidence group

Get2 Gether

CARR CONNECTORS

Pop-up CaféWorking with local church &

children's centre

volunteering opps.

NELLI

Parents play group

Community allotmentsCafé Nelle

NELLI Vision

Community activists contributing to further work: Local meetingsPresentationsMedia

ONE DENHOLME

Walking groupFilm club

App/ face bookWebsite & newsletter makeover

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

• Community researchers are now activists – sharing the key messages

• 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

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

• Loneliness resource pack - session plans, causes and ideas, case studies …

• Can do – guidance and tips for negotiating community action;

• Evaluation - Can neighbourhood approaches to loneliness contribute to peoples wellbeing

• Lets talk about loneliness - a short film featuring interviews with the communities involved in our research

Free resources

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, 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 ?