Today marks the start of Loneliness Awareness Week. Loneliness is a complex issue but generally refers to feelings of a lack of meaningful connections. Anyone can feel lonely and it's estimated that 45% of adults in England feel lonely occasionally, sometimes or often.

Rosie Urry has been working hard on equality and diversity to ensure that everyone feels included at ThriveTribe, and my own work on social wellbeing has given opportunities for building these all important connections. If you have any suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Loneliness is often situational and can be related to the breakdown of relationships, moving areas, bereavement, and of course, isolation due to the pandemic. If you feel you are struggling with any of these, we have a new Wellbeing section on Lifeworks, where you can access support - if you open up Lifeworks, you'll see the icon at the bottom of the screen. More information on all the health & wellbeing support we offer will be coming to Totem soon, so keep an eye on the Resources section.

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This year's campaign is hosted by The Marmalade Trust who hope to raise awareness of loneliness and get people talking about it. The theme this year is acceptance. Last year the campaign reached around 271.5 million people - all without leaving our homes. There was even a tweet from the Royal Family!

We all get lonely; we understand it and we experience it. This Loneliness Awareness Week, the Marmalade Trust is encouraging people to see loneliness as an experience, not as a condition. It doesn't define us. By building a greater awareness and acceptance of loneliness, we can help ourselves and others to manage the feeling.

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How can I help? Simply share one (or more) of the resources. Sharing a picture on social media, changing your email footer or simply putting up one of the posters can promote the campaign and allow it to reach a wider audience.

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