Loneliness awareness week

This week marks Loneliness Awareness Week, so we here at the library blog would like to discuss what Loneliness Awareness Week is, why it is important, and the support the university can provide for you if you are feeling lonely.

There has been much talk in recent years about a heightened feeling of loneliness experienced by many people in the UK, with nearly half of of adults in the UK reporting that they experience feelings of loneliness, and around 7% saying they feel lonely most of the time. This trend has only intensified following the COVID-19 pandemic, with the pandemic resulting in many feeling isolated and disconnected from others. Studies have shown that levels of social engagement have yet to return to their pre-pandemic levels.
Loneliness can have a terrible impact on a person’s emotional and mental state, with studies showing it results in poorer sleep quality, a general lack of self-confidence, and potentially results in issues such as depression and anxiety.
Additionally, in recent years, people aged 16 to 34 years old are one of the groups most at-risk for experiencing feelings of loneliness. With the experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic making it clear how important social interaction is for many people, there have been efforts to raise awareness about what has been referred to as the “Loneliness Epidemic”, with Loneliness Awareness Week being one such way of raising awareness.

Loneliness awareness

Loneliness Awareness Week was started by Marmalade Trust, an award-winning charity dedicated to combating social loneliness by helping lonely people to make new connections, as well as aiming to reduce the social stigma associated with loneliness. This is done through the organisation of social events at local venues, as well as making doorstep visits to people who are unable to leave their homes. Further support is provided through online webinars that instruct people in how to manage loneliness.
The trust itself has its origins with Amy Perrin, the founder of the trust, who, through her work as a health professional,l met several older people in her local area who were experiencing Christmas alone. Amy was inspired to organise a Christmas event for local people in Bristol spending Christmas alone, and this event rapidly grew in size. Seeing the positive impact it had on others, Amy decided to expand her efforts and recruit volunteers to organise further events, taking the Marmalade name as a tribute to Paddington Bear. From there, the charity has only grown and grown, with Amy being awarded an OBE last year for her charity work.
Anyone is free to take part in promoting the week and combating loneliness by organising local events for people to meet each other and build. You can check here to find handy resources to help you set up a local event. These include resources tailored for use with businesses, local community groups, or even just some local people setting up an event themselves.

Support at Napier

Furthermore, we here at the Napier library have some resources that any of our students are free to use if they feel they are experiencing loneliness. All of our libraries have a Wellbeing Collection, with books dedicated to providing support and advice to those in need. These books cover a variety of topics, and one of these topics is to provide support for those experiencing loneliness. These include self-help books such as The Cure for Loneliness by Bill Howatt (available in the Craiglockhart wellbeing collection) which contains advice from counsellor Bill Howatts on how to handle feeling lonely, as well as novels which feature social loneliness as a major theme, such as Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (a book that I’d highly recommend personally)
Additionally, Napier Student Support is there to provide any students with advice and counselling for any issues you may have, including if you are feeling isolated at university.

If anybody reading this finds themselves feeling lonely and socially isolated, then we hope any of these resources can provide you with any of the help you need.

By Matthew Ferrie

You can access the wellbeing collection from the top tab on the blog