Call to give a gift of ten minutes across the North East
It's as research shows 1 in 6 people here don't cope well with loneliness over Christmas.
North east residents are encouraged to reach out to their neighbours this Christmas, after it was revealed that more than 1 in 5 people in our region feel lonelier at Christmas than any other time of the year.
This information comes after the UK’s leading mental health charity, MIND, released new statistics, which also showed that a quarter of people ‘feel alone in a crowd’ despite having people around them.
Judith Boyle from North East befriending services says that the run up to Christmas can be an extremely lonely time for people, especially the elderly.
“Everybody seems to be busier than normal, but it’s important to prevent elderly loneliness at Christmas. There’s a lot of people struggling to cope with the absence of human company.
“Isolation is a reality for many older people all year round, not just at Christmas, a lot feel trapped in their own homes.”
Judith believes that if everyone comes together it will help to reduce the problem.
“If we all stick together as a community and organisations link together we have a better chance of tackling the problem. I think we need to encourage communities more to interact with older people even if you just checked up on them or gave your neighbour a knock”
The befriending service operates 7 days a week, however this still isn’t enough to eradicate the problem.
They urge people to stick together and try to do as much as we can to be the eyes and ears of our communities this Christmas.
If you would like to lend a hand to the service or feel you need the services help please contact 07909 006554