Derbyshire County Council is supporting residents to get connected and feel less isolated as part of Mental Health Awareness Week this week.

Mental Health Awareness Week runs to Sunday 15 May and this year's theme is all about loneliness.

The county council is leading a local awareness campaign to encourage people across Derbyshire to get involved and get connected.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased many people’s feelings of isolation and being disconnected from the world around them.

Loneliness is a growing issue and levels of loneliness across the country have increased.

In 2020 five per cent of people (about 2.6 million adults) said that they felt lonely “often” or “always” and this increased to 7.2 per cent in February 2021 according to a recent study. 

Being socially connected is seen as being good for mental wellbeing and helps protect against mental ill health.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Carol Hart said: “Feeling lonely or isolated can have a negative impact on your mental health - especially if these feelings go on for a long time.

“So it's really important that we all work together to help tackle it. There’s lots of organisations and projects across Derbyshire who are working to help people feel more included and less alone.”

The county council say it is working in partnership with local voluntary sector organisations to tackle loneliness and improve social connections, while there are lots of projects across Derbyshire to get involved in. 

There are plenty of things that you can do to help if you, or someone you know, may be feeling isolated. For example, you can check on a neighbour or phone a friend you haven’t spoken to for a while.

Visit www.derbyshire.gov.uk/getconnected to find out more about the support and advice on offer locally.

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