Belonging

Tackling loneliness together this #LonelinessAwarenessWeek
It’s Loneliness Awareness Week in the UK, and we’re keen to hear from you: what does loneliness mean to you and your organisation? How have you been tackling loneliness this past year? What challenges do you see in the weeks and months ahead? The background: […]

A celebration of small things
This experience that no one could ever have imagined that the world would go through… it has really made a lot of people appreciate the small things in life, the really small things, you know? Seeing people’s faces again. Going out for a coffee with […]

“11 years of lockdown”
I was due to film a short video at a studio space adjacent to a local Men’s Shed. Max met me at the door. After a COVID-secure greeting, he enthusiastically showed me into his workshop and through to the room I would be using. We […]

Taking Creative English online: combatting loneliness
When we embarked on the first lockdown, we knew it was going to be really important for people’s well-being to find ways to continue to connect. One expression of this has been adapting our Creative English programme to run online. Little did we know, when […]

Looking Ahead
Over the past six months, we have held well over 100 public events. It has been great to meet so many of you and to hear about your organisations, places of worship, and areas of work. People of faith are certainly at the forefront of […]

What we’ve found: regional roundtables on community cohesion
After three weeks of travelling the country virtually, the FaithAction team has currently spoken to members of faith communities in six of the nine English regions, with the final three taking place this week. Our goal was to talk about the role faith communities around […]

A ‘New Deal’ proposed between Government and faith communities
Danny Kruger MP has released a report, Levelling Up Our Communities, which proposes a new ‘social covenant’. Following consideration of 500 written responses and “dozens” of phone interviews, the report results in 20 recommendations, inspired by the extraordinary response in communities to meeting the needs […]

“You can still come with me!” — seven tips for encouraging a sense of integration and belonging in the ‘new normal’
Despite its (many) challenges, this extended lockdown has resulted in an increased sense of belonging for many vulnerable individuals. Communities rose to the challenge of supporting practical needs and the help of neighbours and organisations helped many to feel visible, valuable, and connected. For others, […]

Making the Most of Difficult Times
It’s been an unusual year to say the least. It’s now been five months since the UK went into lockdown and, whilst things have begun opening up again and life has been making slow progress back to some kind of normality, our summers have probably […]

“Lonely but not alone” – How faith and community groups are responding to loneliness
Before the pandemic, one in five people already reported feeling often, or always, lonely. The impact of coronavirus has intensified these feelings and caused loneliness for many more. Loneliness affects people of all ages and all communities, and many need support now more than ever. […]