The missing million: a practical guide to identifying and talking about loneliness

Author(s)

CAMPAIGN TO END LONELINESS

Publisher(s):

Campaign to End Loneliness

Publication year:

2016

A practical guide providing advice to help commissioners, service providers, frontline staff and volunteers to better identify and engage with older people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing loneliness. The guide draws on evidence from an earlier Campaign to End Loneliness Report 'The missing million: in search of the loneliest in our communities'. The first section outlines a range of data sources to help identify loneliness, including heat maps, the Exeter data system of patients registered with GPs, and a Community Insight tool developed by the Housing Associations Charitable Trust. It also explores how working with local communities and developing partnerships with individuals, groups and other agencies can help to help identify loneliness. Examples show how existing social networks in communities also have an important role to play in providing support and reducing loneliness. The second section provides recommendations on how best to engage with older people, highlighting the importance of understanding what loneliness is, having the right skills to talk to older people about loneliness, and providing appropriate support for the individual. Examples of effective and innovative approaches to supporting older people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, loneliness, are also included. These include social prescribing, Talk for Health, and using social media and technology. (Edited publisher abstract)