Community Connections
Meaningful connections with others have strong positive effects on wellbeing. They improve personal feelings about life and circumstances, substantially reduce risk of mental and physical health issues, and greatly reduce risk of premature death.
Lack of meaningful connections or a feeling of loneliness is highly detrimental to wellbeing. It is a widespread problem. Often, afflicted individuals are unable to overcome it themselves. To provide guidance to those wanting to help, the World Health Organisation established a Commission on Social Connection starting in 2024. This challenge has also attracted increasing attention from academics, governments, and not-for-profit, non-government organisations.
Making meaningful connections requires the participation of other people. The St John’s Cathedral community wants to help and is working on ways of doing so.