Loneliness Awareness Week takes place from 14th – 18th June 2021.
This is a campaign run by Marmalade Trust which is designed to raise awareness about loneliness. The theme for this year’s Loneliness Awareness Week is acceptance and the purpose of the campaign is to encourage people to talk about loneliness in an attempt to remove the stigma and shame around it.
Despite the restrictions in place last year that stopped face-to-face events, the Marmalade Trust was able to reach around 271.5 million people with their online campaign “One Less Lonely Voice” and they hope to make Loneliness Awareness Week 2021 bigger and better than last year.
Why is it important to accept we get lonely and talk about it?
Loneliness impacts our mental and physical wellbeing and it is something that most of us will experience in our lifetime. We have now been living through over a year of lockdowns, social distancing, and social restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic depriving us of social interaction and, as a result, more of us are experiencing that feeling of loneliness.
Loneliness Awareness Week 2021 is encouraging people to accept that we get lonely. They are asking us to change the way we think of loneliness; instead of considering loneliness as a condition, we should see loneliness as something we all experience.
By starting a conversation about loneliness and accepting that it is something we are all likely to experience, no matter our age, background, or circumstance, we can help others and ourselves to feel able to reach out and learn to manage the feeling of loneliness.
If you would like to get involved in Loneliness Awareness Week or learn more about loneliness then visit the Marmalade Trust website.
If you or someone you know is experiencing loneliness, then I would encourage you to visit one or more of the following websites: