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Tackling loneliness and isolation in Northern England

  • Venue: MEA House, Newcastle
  • Start: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 09:30:00 GMT
  • End: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:00:00 GMT

In October 2018, the Government launched A Connected Society: a strategy for tackling loneliness.  It is a wide-ranging document which recognises that loneliness can affect people in all stages of the life course and is often compounded by social isolation.

The seminar aims to explore the underlying meanings and causes of loneliness and isolation so that informed debate can ensue on what can be done about it for different constituencies of people. We can’t cover everything, so in this seminar we will look at either end of the life-course, focusing on the experience of young people and older people – to see what experiences they may have in common and those which differ.

Tackling loneliness, as the seminar will show, is not an easy thing to do. Often feelings of loneliness and isolation are associated with social stigma – this can potentially undermine well-meaning attempts to tackle the problem through, for example, generalised approaches to social prescribing. This was recognised in the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness report ‘Combating loneliness one conversation at a time.’ Simplistic strategies which look for easy answers will not work.

So the seminar looks at a variety of approaches which have been taken in North East England to consider their merits, but also learn from the difficulties they encountered in reaching and supporting people with diverse experiences and needs. 

For further information and agenda please see Tackling loneliness and isolation in Northern England


 

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