Tackling Loneliness through nature-based solutions: at RECETAS, we take #RandomActsofConnection outside

From June 10 to 16, we celebrate Loneliness Awareness Week, which aims at raising awareness about loneliness and its impact on mental health and wellbeing. This annual campaign is organized by the Marmalade Trust, a UK-based charity whose goal is to tackle loneliness and social isolation.

The RECETAS project is happy to support the Marmalade Trust as our actions and research fully aligns with the spirit of Loneliness Awareness Week. Thanks to this initiative, people get to talk about these issues, participating in reducing the stigma associated with feeling lonely, encouraging others to talk about it and connecting us together. The RECETAS Project indeed studies the connections between loneliness and activities done within nature in urban and peri-urban areas, with six pilot cities in which this activities are carried out and tested.

Throughout Loneliness Awareness Week, diverse activities are organized to promote the message that everyone can feel lonely, because of a variety of different factors, and that breaking out of the vicious circle of silence is crucial.

Each year, Loneliness Awareness Week features a specific theme. This year, the focus is on Random Acts of Connection. The idea is simple: encouraging people to increase the everyday moments of connection that make us feel better and less lonely. These connections can take many forms: having coffee breaks with co-workers, hosting a street party, chatting with someone in a queue, or simply calling a friend to catch up….

Our methodology, the “Friends in Nature” methodology, is an extension of the Finnish “Circle of Frends methodology”, and aims at reducing loneliness through nature-based activities in groups (gardening, species observation, walking in forests, etc).

The end goal of the project is to provide tangible scientific data on the matter but also to raise awareness among policy makers in order to influence policies in urban planning, environment, social issues and mental health in the right direction.

RECETAS is a project funded by the Horizon 2020 program.
To find more information on the RECETAS project, check our website: https://www.recetasproject.eu/
To learn more about Loneliness Awareness Week and the Marmalade Trust, and to get involved: https://www.lonelinessawarenessweek.org/about
#RandomActsOfConnection