Recent research shows that Britain’s sense of ‘community spirit’ is in decline – more than half of people rarely speak to their neighbours and 68% describe them as ‘strangers’. Working with target communities across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, we defined a brief and co-created a campaign, with the aim of combating loneliness and the associated health issues.
The resulting campaign, Looking out for our neighbours, inspired individual action, encouraging people to look out for vulnerable people in their communities. In turn, this aims to reduce the demand on health and care services across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.
Our campaign ran from March-June 2019, with support from high profile organisations, local community and voluntary groups, the public sector and national charities, as well as individuals throughout the communities. Over 46,000 people across West Yorkshire and Harrogate joined our campaign, looking out for their neighbours and taking steps to to end loneliness and social isolation.
