As it starts to develop a national strategy on social isolation and loneliness the Scottish Government has been actively seeking out the views of VHS, health charities and other organisations in our network including Befriending Networks, Age Scotland, ROAR Connections for Life, Faith in Older People and The Samaritans
The Scottish Government is expected to announce a formal consultation exercise in the early Autumn. Meantime, organisations have drawn the government’s attention to a number of publications that they believe contain useful ideas for the Scottish strategy, including:
Churches, Isolation and Loneliness Conference Report May 2017
The Shed Effect – Stories from Shedders in Scotland
Testing Promising Approaches to Reducing Loneliness 2016
Welsh Assembly Inquiry into loneliness and isolation – consultation responses March 2017
Loneliness interventions – some international comparisons
Loneliness and the aging population How businesses and governments can address a looming crisis
We will report further in due course.
