Oxfordshire charity helping to tackle loneliness during the festive season
Figures show around 25% of people occasionally feel lonely
A charity in Oxfordshire is helping to tackle loneliness over the festive period as it brings together people from the community.
The Oxford Hub offers a diverse range of programmes helping people connect with each other and their communities.
Their Windale Hub at the local primary school has had nearly 5,000 visits, Brie Birdsey works at the charity, she says, “it’s a warm place, a lovely place to have a cup of tea and a chat. If there’s anything in your life you need help with, we can do a bit of that, but I think one of the main things is just making connections”.
Ms Birdsey added: “We have a couple of programmes specifically catered to lonely people and general sessions where people can just come in and chat.”
"You can become self-hating and depressed"
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that last month, a quarter of people aged over 16-years-old occasionally feel lonely.
Ms Birdsey explains why this time of year is particularly hard, she says, “It’s a period where people who don’t have that kind of support are going to be feeling it the most. All over the TV’s it’s about love, care and family, but if you don’t have that then the Oxford Hub gives a place for you to find connections.”
The Oxford Hub are working in partnership with Age UK with their befriending service which offers a free telephone service for elderly people to chat to someone, and Ms Birdsey says, “it’s what people need right now”.
Ms Birsdey added: “Sometimes you just don’t know where to go, you’re lonely and in that loneliness, you can become self-hating and depressed, but you don’t have anyone to talk to and it can be really daunting going to look for that.”