Mint – no, not teenage slang picked up from my children, but mint – the plant, currently growing prolifically on my allotment and the cause of one of those tiny moments of connection so valuable to us all. Walking home with lots of it in my wheelbarrow, someone at the bus stop stopped me, and asked if it was mint. Turned out he is Moroccan, and had just been to buy a big bunch from the local supermarket.
We ended up in a chat about different ways to use it, and I went away with a photo of the best sort of green tea, and a YouTube video of how to make Moroccan mint tea, and he headed off with a bit more mint from my barrow and a grin on his face. Connection achieved, and I hope we both had a better day.
The theme of Loneliness Awareness Week this year is reducing stigma around loneliness which I think can be a tricky one.
In the work we’ve done with older people, I’d rarely be as upfront as that if I wanted to reach out to people who I thought might be socially isolated or lonely. By labelling an event with ‘loneliness’, we know the ingrained stigma around it is likely to put off those very people, and those who perhaps need it the most. I do however think talking about loneliness to everyone else is a great plan.
In our experience, it was often the case that some people might be aware that they were at risk of becoming lonely, and think about doing something about it. One of those things they did might be just what happened to me – the thought that you might put yourself in the way of regular human connection, in the park or on the bus, making sure you see and chat to someone every day, can help people keep their social skills going.
So do join in with Loneliness Awareness Week, but maybe don’t anticipate you’ll meet a lot of very lonely people by asking them to come along. Keep having those conversations about loneliness, self-awareness, and the need to take action to connect for the sake of others and for ourselves, and if there is the odd brave soul who doesn’t feel the stigma, and comes along declaring they do feel lonely, then embrace the connection and see where it leads you.
If you’d like to know more about how you can effectively reach out to people who are chronically lonely, or offer a warm welcome to new group members if you already run activities, or think about how embracing co-production can improve social connection in your area, then please get in touch with the Good Practice Mentors via GPM@syha.co.uk.
Thank you to Jessica Duffy from Leeds Older People’s Forum for writing this blog.
