Loneliness: The Role of the Social Care Practitioners

Background and Credits

The Social Care Council commissioned Linda Sayer from Sayers Training Services to review and update the content. This resource replaces the Loneliness and Staying Connected Resource first published in April 2021, which was developed in partnership with Age NI, Association for Real Change (ARC), BEE You Counselling, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, CLARE CIC, Clogher Valley Care Ltd, Harmony Community Care Services, Orchardville, Red Cross, Rodgers Community Care and independent contributors; Gretta Thompson and Fiona Murphy.

The resource includes contributions from service users and carers who shared their experiences of loneliness – Jean, John, Marie and Ellen. We have not used real names to protect confidentiality. Their stories are real and the voices you will hear are their real voices. Jean’s voice was provided by an actor.

We wish to thank the members of the Tell It Like It Is (TILLI) group and Gerard McWilliams, Service User for sharing their experiences and thoughts about loneliness and being supported by social care practitioners.

The resource includes contributions from five social care practitioners and manager (Helen, Margaret, Craig, Melvin, Natasha and Hilary) who agreed to be filmed to share their experiences and perspectives of supporting people who are experiencing loneliness and/or supporting people within the sector. (Natasha and Melvin also feature in the Social Care Council’s Social Care Stories promotional campaigns).

We wish to thank Cathy, an independent counsellor, who shared her knowledge about loneliness and the importance of having meaningful conversations.

A number of images used within the resource feature real social care practitioners and managers from across the Trust who agreed to participate in a photography campaign with Social Care Council. The other images used were sourced from Canva.