We had a great turnout for this event, and lots of connections were made between organisations and individuals to enable more future collaboration.

Following an introduction from SGDEN’s Chair, Kay Tily, we heard from Will Bee, Equality Coordinator at SGC about the context surrounding isolation issues from a policy point of view. This was followed by an engaging and thought-provoking talk from Delia, herself a former carer, on the impact of illness and disability not only on her husband, but on herself as a carer – and the resources now available to carers.

Isolation and loneliness event

We then heard about various local projects aimed at reducing loneliness and isolation – the Can’t Wait card (which SGDEN is now championing, and planning to do some work on in the near future), Curo’s Community Connectors, various schemes for people on the autism spectrum with AWP and the local NAS branches, Individual Service Funds, and the WECIL Peer Support Project.

This was followed by a lively discussion and information from the floor about other projects and schemes which are currently active.

Feedback from attendees was very positive: “a great opportunity to meet a variety of people who have a common interest”, “good diverse selection of talks, great talk on perspective of social isolation from carer” & “friendly, easy to understand. Good to see different organisations coming together”.

We also had an update on our topic from our event last year on Physical Activity and Sport for disabled people – our thoughts and suggestions have been taken on board.

Thanks to all who came, and let’s keep the conversations going!