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. In 2023, the United States Surgeon General issued an “Advisory” declaring loneliness an important public health issue requiring urgent action, and highlighting the healing effects of social connection. Earlier, Ending Loneliness Together in Australia and a Queensland parliamentary inquiry highlighted these matters. The challenge of helping people who feel lonely make meaningful connections with others has also been attracting increasing attention from researchers, government agencies, and not-for-profit, caring sector 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, as explained in Programme Plan.