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It's Loneliness Awareness Week!
Created and hosted by Marmalade Trust, our annual campaign raises awareness of loneliness across the UK (and beyond!) and gets people talking about it.
Marmalade Trust is the UK’s leading loneliness charity offering support for all ages and the only charity in the world specifically dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness.
We launched Loneliness Awareness Week (‘LAW’) in 2017 and it grows in momentum each year. This year’s campaign, our 6th, welcomes not just the support we’ve come to recognise across the UK but has also received global traction in the US, Canada, Germany, and Australia!
Loneliness is a natural human emotion. We are hardwired to need social connection. Feeling lonely is a useful prompt for us to look at how we can better meet our social needs.
What we're doing
this year.
This year’s campaign takes place Monday 13th June - Friday 17th June 2022 and will be highlighting the many and varied instances when we feel lonely to normalise the feeling - from childhood, into adulthood and beyond - with our campaign:
’That Lonely Feeling’
#ThatLonelyFeeling
Why is it important?
Whilst we’re seeing an increase in discussion on the subject, stigma remains and there are some key misconceptions that still need to be challenged. Ask anyone to picture a lonely person and most will imagine an older person living on their own. As such, we often rebuke and dismiss feelings of loneliness because ‘that doesn’t apply to me’.
By identifying and acknowledging all the times that we have personally felt and experienced loneliness, we can start to change our viewpoint, accept it and understand how to take action to manage the feeling (and our social connections) in the future.
How can I get involved?
Get our campaign toolkit
New resources for LAW 2022.
We have a wealth of great new content to mark this year's Loneliness Awareness Week. Check it out!
New practical guides for all
New supportive Marmalade guides for life in education, at work, at home and in your community
Check out our primary and secondary resources
Hear from Head of Operations, Lucy Norris, a wheelchair user
Hear Ben's story
Tips for connection when you're working from home
Not everyone is online. Digital exclusion is very real.
3 leading UKCP Psychotherapists discuss
New self-care content
Connecting with yourself and looking after yourself is vital to set you up well for making new social connections
Do I have enough quality connections?
Good mood food to help combat loneliness
Routine, community and love all help us when it comes to pets
New in making friends and connecting
You're ready to make new social connections. How and where can you do it? See these guides for help.
Groups and activities to consider as a way to make new friends
Hear from one of our volunteers, Alison about the benefits
What makes someone good at getting people together?
Sammy and Irene - how their bond is mutually beneficial
Yes, forget what your Mother told you. It's ok to as an adult.
How to ask someone if they're lonely and what to do if you are
LAW 2021
What we got up to
last year
Check out our award-winning campaign "We Get Lonely" from 2021
Webinar
Get your organisation involved in LAW 2022
Introducing our highly rated "Understanding Loneliness" webinar
