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.