Blue Monday: How Jo Cox legacy is inspiring loneliness campaign – Su Moore

When door-knocking, people often stopped to chat not necessarily because they wanted to talk about politics, but because they hadn’t spoken to anyone else that day. This, coupled with Jo’s own experiences of loneliness at university and as a new mother, ignited a desire to tackle this issue when she was elected.

Jo vowed to ‘turbo charge’ the response to loneliness in this country, and the Jo Cox Foundation have continued with this aim with an energy of which we hope Jo would be proud. We know that loneliness was a major issue before Covid, and it’s something that many more people have experienced over the past two years.

Our recent research shows that 67 per cent of people have felt lonely to some degree in the last month. But there is still significant stigma associated with talking about it, with over three-quarters of people saying that they felt that to be the case.

That’s why the Jo Cox Foundation wants to help people open the conversation about the topic.

Our Great Winter Get Together campaign will run from today until January 30, and we’ll be spreading the message that ‘there’s no shame in sharing’. You can join us – whether it’s asking a friend how they really are, opening up to a relative if you’re feeling lonely, or even starting a conversation at your work or place of worship. Every conversation helps to chip away at the stigma.

We’re shining a particular spotlight on normalising having these conversations with young people because, despite the perception people may have that it’s only older people who feel lonely, those aged 16 to 24 are actually the loneliest in the UK.

A staggering 94 per cent of that age group report feelings of loneliness in the last month. We have convened a panel of young people to advise us as we develop the Great Winter Get Together and one insight that really struck us was “We’re encouraged to only share the positive sides of our lives especially on social media. We are so connected to one another through the internet sometimes it can be difficult to describe that feeling of isolation.”

The Great Winter Get Together is a great time to reach out to the younger generation and ask how they are. Our work in West Yorkshire is at the heart of our efforts to build a legacy for Jo Cox in tackling loneliness.

As part of the Great Winter Get Together, we’re working with our local partners to get young people involved in having conversations about loneliness. We’ve particularly enjoyed working with young people at Huddersfield Town Foundation who have developed a social media campaign to reach young people this month.

Though winter is the loneliest season, we’re committed to making resources about loneliness really easy to access all year round. We’ve worked in partnership with WhatsApp to make a loneliness chatbot. Simply add 07902 922908 to your contacts, and send a message saying ‘hi’. That will give you access to a wide range of resources from the Jo Cox Foundation and our partners. There is help for older people and young people, as well as tips from some familiar faces – including Nick Grimshaw, Judi Love and Ovie Soko.

Another of our initiatives is the Connection Coalition. Formed at the beginning of the pandemic with partners including Age UK and the British Red Cross, the coalition brings together organisations who are united by a desire to prioritise connection. We support these members by connecting them with each other, to learn and share opportunities (and pitfalls) within the sector. By working together, we can do more to bring about change and tackle loneliness in the UK.

Based on this model, we’re working to build a local coalition of organisations in Yorkshire who share a wish to tackle loneliness and take a relationship-centred approach to their work. Our plans for 2022 in Yorkshire build on learning from our national Connection Coalition, and will aim to make a significant difference in the local area.

Please join us this January, and beyond, in showing that there’s ‘no shame in sharing’!

To take part in the Great Winter Get Together, head to www.greatgettogether.org where you can download our toolkit full of advice on starting these conversations, as well as accessing our loneliness resources that can be used in schools. You can also join the conversation on social media by using #NoShameInSharing.

Su Moore is chief executive of the 
Jo Cox Foundation.

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