As part of Mental Health Awareness Week here at Goodman Masson, we have been discussing and sharing thoughts on loneliness and ways in which we can prevent ourselves and others from feeling alone.
Loneliness has become a lot more apparent since the emergence of the pandemic with 41% of UK adults reporting feeling lonelier since lockdown and 31% of UK adults not having had a meaningful conversation with someone within the last week.
Keeping connected, taking up a new hobby, and making friends are great ways to combat loneliness. For example, there are many apps that have been created to bring people together, to name a few:
Meetup
Meetup is an app where you can organise in-person and virtual activities, gatherings, and events for people and communities of similar interests, hobbies, and professions.
Bumble BFF
Whether you’re new to London or looking to grow your social circle, Bumble BFF is a simplified way to create meaningful friendships.
Geneva
Geneva is a communication app that helps you connect with groups, clubs, and communities all in one place.
Mush
Mush is an app that helps mums connect with other mothers so they can chat about their milestones to provide learning, close support, friendships, engagement and fun.
Park Run
A free, fun, and friendly weekly 5k community event. Walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate – it’s up to you! Mental Health Mates A safe environment for people to walk and talk, judgment-free. It’s run by people who have mental health issues, but you don’t have to be diagnosed to come along on one of the volunteer-led strolls around London.
A safe environment for people to walk and talk, judgment-free. It’s run by people who have mental health issues, but you don’t have to be diagnosed to come along on one of the volunteer-led strolls around London.
Bike Works
Bikeworks offers free cycles around Victoria Park with a group that’s open to all abilities.
Rabble
A Rabble game is 1 hour of fun social team games. They play a variety of games to cover different fitness levels and skills including speed, endurance, coordination, agility, strength, and more.
Many people struggle to open up about feeling lonely, some may not even recognise that that is what they’re experiencing. Being the person to reach out to someone you suspect to be lonely and having a conversation can have a huge impact. A great place to start is volunteering such as becoming a Telephone Friend for an elderly person who lives alone or a Sense Buddy for an individual whose physical or mental disability has caused them to experience loneliness.
Other ways could be wearing a #happytotalk badge that shows you are open to conversation with anyone that needs someone to talk to or reaching out to an elderly neighbour or checking in with a friend that lives alone.
The majority of us have experienced loneliness at least once in our lives so it’s important to raise awareness, have the conversations and in turn, all help each other to feel a little less lonely.
Click here to learn more about our mental health initiatives!
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