Laura Alcock-Ferguson, Founding Director of the Campaign to End Loneliness has been recognised in this year’s New Year’s Honours for her work on the issue on developing the Campaign since its inception in 2011.

Since it launched ten years ago  the Campaign to End Loneliness has raised awareness of the issue, and worked to grow the evidence-base on loneliness so that the UK stays at the forefront of knowledge and action on loneliness.

Paul Cann, OBE, Chair of the Campaign to End Loneliness, said; “The Campaign to End Loneliness was so fortunate to have a leader with Laura’s gifts, able to inspire and bring together the diversity of agencies and individuals who care about this social challenge.  Her drive, focus and her natural instinct to collaborate made the Campaign a shared movement of significance in a society so often drifting apart”

Laura Alcock-Ferguson, MBE said:  “I’m delighted to receive this honour. I dedicate it to all of you who have helped anyone experiencing loneliness, particularly this last year, and to everyone working on alleviating or raising awareness of loneliness in any way. You inspired me in my own work, thank you.”

The Campaign to End Loneliness has many thousands of supporters;  from local community groups, charities, researchers, politicians, business leaders, health professionals and international bodies.

Loneliness can be experienced throughout life, not just later life. If you have been feeling lonely for a while, a first step is to notice and identify this, even just to yourself. Everyone will have a different experience of loneliness and different reasons for why they are feeling this way.

There is no one way to effectively deal with loneliness but there are lots of different things that can, and do, help. Some people find that reaching out to connect with others is the best way to deal with their loneliness while others will feel that they prefer to deal with their loneliness alone.

The Campaign website has some suggested ways to help you deal with your feelings of loneliness https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/feeling-lonely/