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Neighbourhood approaches to loneliness
- 1. Neighbourhood approaches to loneliness The tale of two cities Tracey Robbins JRF
- 2. • 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?
- 3. Loneliness in the UK Almost half of adults in England say they experience feelings of loneliness
- 4. Loneliness = A serious risk to health
- 5. 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
- 6. • 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
- 7. The neighbourhoods –York Carr Estate Young families Mixed tenure housing Debt problems Few natural meeting places Little community focus New Earswick Ageing population High levels of unpaid carers Plentiful meeting spaces Rowntree model village Programme fatigue?
- 8. The neighbourhoods – Bradford Denholme Rural Older population Poor public transport Active town council Local meeting places Bradford Moor Urban area Ethnically diverse Overcrowded housing Economically deprived High drug and unemployment rates
- 9. • 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
- 10. Action Research using PLA
- 11. What are the issues affecting people in the four neighbourhoods
- 12. 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?
- 13. • 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
- 14. What is now happening BRADFORD MOOR Community Market Confidence group Get2 Gether CARR CONNECTORS Pop-up Café Working with local church & children's centre volunteering opps. NELLI Parents play group Community allotments Café Nelle NELLI Vision Community activists contributing to further work: Local meetings Presentations Media ONE DENHOLME Walking group Film club App/ face book Website & newsletter makeover
- 15. 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
- 16. • 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
- 17. • 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
- 18. 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 ?
Editor's Notes
- Twice as likely to die prematurely Worst than obesity Akin to smoking 15 cigarettes a day Increased links with cardiovascular disorder and hypertension and dementia And why is this – people who are lonely often do not choose healthy lifestyles – less likely to exercise, sleep and eat properly They are also more likely to make unhealthy choices EXAMPLE If you think about times when you have felt drained and exhausted world weary and in a rut – do you turn to healthy comforts ? Like a jog or would you turn to the fridge?
- Research shows us that loneliness is linked with a whole range of behaviours which damage our health. And as it causes ill-health it also increases burdens on our health and care services – which means costs to us all. It also damages our wider community infrastructure. As people become more and more lonely they lose their confidence, and they withdraw more and more. In time people withdraw from their communities. Those communities then lose out on these individual’s skills, resources and contributions, and over time they become poorer for it. As JRF’s work showed “loneliness kills people and kills communities”
- When we look at the risk factors for loneliness we can see why it tends to converge at the beginning and end of life. For younger people issues such as moving house, having a low income, and being out of work can be particular triggers to loneliness. As can being a carer for children. We can also see how the risks converge in later life But the risks for loneliness are not all about our individual circumstances. Some features of our communities can make us more or less vulnerable to loneliness – issues like access to transport are perhaps obvious, but other factors – like population change which can occur when new faces moving into an area over time can leave some older residents feeling marooned, or when crime rates can leave people feeling prisoners in their own homes, fearful of reaching out to neighbours.
- We have a lot to consider
- NO ONE IS AN ISLAND We looked at loneliness from a place perspective as people live in place – and if we consider out networks they are often no longer where we live and work – this is particularly important when we are experiencing loneliness but it is particularly important for us all This approach can be changed to anything, neighbourhood approaches to dementia, to heath, to prejudice …. Think of one thing personal Professional in groups