Thriving Communities webinar series: Loneliness and Social Prescribing
Tuesday May 11 3-4pm Thriving Communities webinar will explore how social prescribing can help tackle loneliness ahead of Loneliness Awareness Week 14-18 June. The webinar series brings together individuals and organisations committed to using social prescribing through the arts, health, sports, leisure, and the natural environment, alongside other aspects of our lives, to promote health and wellbeing at a national and local level.
Register here What is Thriving Communities?
Thriving Communities is a new national support programme for voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups, supporting communities impacted by COVID19 in England, working alongside social prescribing link workers.
Through networks, blogs, resources and webinars Thriving Communities enables communities to share learning, gain new ideas, access funding and develop partnerships across sectors.
It is run by the National Academy for Social Prescribing, an organisation dedicated to the advancement of social prescribing through promotion, collaboration and innovation.
What will you learn?
The context of loneliness – who gets lonely? How many people does it affect across the country? How does it affect people’s health and wellbeing?
The impact that social prescribing can have on loneliness and how it can change lives.
We’ll hear from some great projects around the country who are working hard to reduce loneliness in their areas through social prescribing.
You’ll get some top tips to help relieve loneliness in your community.
Why does this matter?
According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport between 6-18% of the population often or always feel lonely. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) 2.6 million people in Great Britain reported that they ‘often’ or ‘always’ felt lonely between 3 April and 3 May 2020, during lockdown.
Over half of people over 75 live alone, and according to the ONS, 16-24 year olds were the highest proportion of any age group to report loneliness.
Loneliness is an issue that affects people across the life course and has significant mental and physical health implications. It increases the likelihood of mortality by 26% meaning it is a comparable risk to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Hosted by Marmalade Trust, Loneliness Awareness Week is an annual campaign which raises awareness of loneliness and gets people talking about it.
Who will be speaking?
Charlotte Hill, Tackling Loneliness Team, Department of Culture, Media & Sport
Jackie Jamieson, Community Linking Project Development Manager, Edbert’s House
Simon Sherbersky, Strategic Director, Torbay Community Development Trust
What will the session look like?
Each speaker will share their thoughts on how loneliness can be addressed through social prescribing, based on evidence through the projects they have delivered.
Q&A with speakers
Who should attend?
Anyone in the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector with an interest in social prescribing and/or loneliness.
Social prescribing link workers
NHS, local government and arms-length body staff Register here National Academy for Social Prescribing