Online interactive workshops to help tackle loneliness and improve community wellbeing in East Sussex

23/11/2021

Loneliness is a serious problem in our communities and we all need to tackle it. As someone who works or volunteers directly with residents in East Sussex, we’d like to invite you to attend an online interactive workshop to gain your input about actions we can take.

Loneliness can have an enormous impact on people’s lives, their relationships and their wellbeing. In 2018 the followingproportions of people said they feel lonely living in their local area ‘often’ or ‘some of the time’:

  • Eastbourne borough - 26%
  • Hastings borough - 30%
  • Lewes district - 25%
  • Rother district - 24%
  • Wealden district - 21%

While most of us experience loneliness at some point in our lives, there are some groups who are at particular risk of loneliness; for example, young people, older people, those who are out of work and people living with a health condition or disability. Those with a heightened risk of loneliness are also likely to have been hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Did you know?

Loneliness is associated with an increased mortality risk for both men and women.


Lonely individuals are at higher risk of the onset of disability.

Loneliness puts individuals at greater risk of cognitive decline, and one study concluded that lonely people have a 64% increased chance of developing clinical dementia.


People who are often lonely are more likely to attend emergency and primary healthcare services.

You can help!

By tackling the root causes of loneliness, we can help people to feel more connected to the people and places around them – resulting in improved community health and wellbeing. Over the last few months we’ve been hearing from partners and residents about what makes them feel connected to their local area and what could be done to make them feel more connected. We'd like your help to make sense of what we’ve heard, bringing your experience to complement their insight.

We need the valuable knowledge and expertise you hold, through working or volunteeringdirectly with residents, to help develop new ideas of how we can – as a system – tackle loneliness in East Sussexin the future.

You can sign up onEventbrite and join one of our interactive online workshops for the area you work in, or would like to attend, on one of the following dates:

At this workshop we’ll explore how we can create a more connected and less lonely East Sussex.

These events are part of the Community Wellbeing: Connected People & Places project. Through this project local authorities in East Sussex, the NHS, the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VSCE) sector and others are working together – with the support of Collaborate CIC – to improve community wellbeing and tackle loneliness.

If you have any questions please contact Taj:tajwar@collaboratecic.com