Would your secondary school be interested in taking part in Neighbourly Lab’s project on addressing loneliness in schools? Or do you know one that would?
This is a chance for participating schools to think deeply about their students’ social health.
We are delighted to be working on a project focused on addressing loneliness in schools with the support of the Astra Foundation and Hallmark Foundation. This is an important piece of work and one that we have wanted to do for a long time since loneliness is both an unpleasant experience in its own right and is associated with
- More negative attitudes to school
- Lower educational attainment
- Higher levels of anxiety and depression
- Worse physical health and higher levels of health damaging behaviours
The project builds on an evidence-based framework and on resources already shared in the ‘Brief guide to addressing loneliness among young people at school’. Now we want to work closely with staff and students in two secondary schools.
In each school, we will collect data from one focus year group to provide insight into loneliness in that specific school context. Then we will facilitate co-design workshops with a small working group of staff and students to develop a realistic, tailored plan of action aimed at increasing social connection and belonging, and at reducing loneliness among students. Following implementation of that plan, we will collect further data to evaluate impact and carry out a final workshop to support thinking about next steps.
This is a small-scale project but we do have money in our budget for the work that schools do and will provide thank you vouchers for staff and students who are interviewed.
The work will also provide wider learning about addressing loneliness in schools. We intend to share this learning widely and to use it to encourage a big conversation among education, public health and other interested colleagues, and as a catalyst for further action and research on addressing loneliness among young people at school.
If you would like to receive a more detailed information sheet and/or to have a preliminary chat to find out more, please contact Dr Helen MacIntyre (project lead and researcher) – helen@neighbourlylab.com We look forward to hearing from you.