BU Research Blog

The government has announced the launch of a campaign to tackle the stigma of feeling alone. Loneliness Awareness Week began on Monday (17th June), led by Minister for Loneliness Mims Davies. The initiative is called “Let’s Talk Loneliness” and brings together The Marmalade Trust, the British Red Cross, the Co-op Foundation, the Campaign to End Loneliness, Mind, the Jo Cox Foundation and Public Health England.

The campaign hopes to end the stigma of feeling alone and create a culture of people feeling comfortable to talk about feeling alone. As part of Loneliness Awareness Week, the government has also announced it is partnering with the Co-op Foundation to match-fund a new £1.6 million initiative that supports activity in community spaces to promote social connections.

A new YouGov poll on loneliness was released on Monday, showing:

• People in cities surveyed had a higher incidence of reporting feeling lonely than the UK overall (56% v. 44%).
• 25% of adults have reported feeling lonely on weekends.
• Over the weekend, the evenings are the most likely time for people to feel lonely (16%).

Minister for Loneliness Mims Davies said:

• Loneliness is one of the biggest health challenges our country faces. It can affect anyone at any time and its impact is in line with smoking or obesity. But we can only begin to help one another if we feel able to understand, recognise and talk about it.
• Let’s Talk Loneliness’ will encourage us all to engage with this issue, speak up without stigma, spot the signs of loneliness and help build more meaningful connections so people feel less isolated.

For the government press release, see here.

Find out more about the Government loneliness strategy, see here: Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign