Hosted by the Marmalade Trust, Loneliness Awareness Week is an annual campaign which aims to reduce the stigma of loneliness and encourage more people to talk about it and address the issues. This year, the campaign will be running between Monday 13th and Friday 17th June 2022.
Marmalade Trust is the UK’s leading loneliness charity for all ages and is also the only organisation in the world specifically dedicated to raising awareness of the impacts being alone can have. Loneliness Awareness Week was launched in 2017, and each year, it grows in momentum. Loneliness affects millions of people in the UK every year and is a key driver of poor mental health. The Mental Health Foundation’s research has unsurprisingly found that loneliness has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic with an even more devastating impact than before. People feel more isolated and less able to connect with others, and many of us feel it is an important issue that needs to be addressed. The Marmalade Trust want to encourage people to see loneliness as a blank canvas on which they can fill their lives with new friends and experiences.
“We all feel lonely at times – it’s a natural human emotion. After a year of lockdowns, social distancing, and restrictions, more of us have experienced loneliness than ever, which is having a huge impact on our wellbeing”
Marmalade Trust
The work to tackle loneliness doesn’t just stop after the week is finished. The Marmalade Trust raise awareness throughout the year. They also run projects in Bristol, including fantastic Christmas Days for those who would otherwise spend the day alone.
For more information about the Marmalade Trust and what they do, you can visit their website.
