How to tackle loneliness in the city?
It’s one of these subjects that isn’t always easy to talk about: loneliness. Yet, in many countries and many cities, it is a growing problem. Also in different cities in The Netherlands. One of them, the city of Assen, organized a special meeting with both citizens and professionals representing different sectors [e.g. healthcare, education, churches, municipal authorities etc.]. About 75 people attended an interactive session, that resulted in concrete actions.
The meeting was chaired by a moderator, supported by a sidekick and fueled with a social gerontologist. The last person is a professional specialised in the process of “getting older” and in her case also specialised in loneliness prevention programs. Here’s how the meeting was setup:
An interactive session on loneliness prevention
Confront
Before the audience would dive into the issue, they were first asked how the theme of loneliness resonated with their own experience. The organization believed that when doing so, people would be somewhat confronted, which would help to increase engagement around the subject. People were asked to discuss the following question in pairs:
«I know one or more people in the city that are lonely», followed by: «Past month I’ve felt lonely myself»
Although the organization was aware of the sensitive nature of the question, it also believed that attendees would be mature enough to decide what to share and what not. Besides, the voting was anonymous and resulted in 60% indicating that would know people that are lonely and 11% [!] indicating that they themselves felt lonely last month.
Educate
With an audience that was now triggered by the results and that had briefly spoken with each other, it was time to put the theme into a strong context. Social Gerontologist Willie Oldengarm spoke about different loneliness prevention programs throughout the country and the do’s and don’ts that come with it.
Throughout her lively 30-minute presentation, she was every now and then interrupted by a sidekick. She collected all incoming questions that attendees could send in through Sendsteps. The sidekick would interrupt and ask clarifying questions and share interesting comments to which the speaker would then elaborate on, or whereby the moderator sought further interaction with the audience.
Break
After an hour, people would spend a little break to digest all the information, talking further before heading back to the room for the last part of the session.
Interaction
Based on shared personal experiences, knowledge gained and social connections established, it was now a good timing to discuss the situation in the city itself. This was a talk based on statements [that attendees could vote on again], like e.g.:
I miss a collective approach on loneliness prevention within the city
Regularly visiting lonely people, will solve feeling lonely, or
I ask lonely people what they would wish themselves, or
With every statement the attendees could vote, then they’d briefly talk in small groups and then a plenary discussion followed. The expert speaker and the sidekick interrupted every now and then, adding valuable remarks to the discussion.
Best practices and solutions
Finally the audience would send in best practices. “What, in your experience, has worked well with regards to loneliness prevention?” A number of solutions would appear on the screen: coffee mornings, language courses, buddy projects etc. The moderator would invite attendees to live elaborate on the responses, resulting in a great sharing of knowledge and experiences. Some people didn’t know about each other’s initiatives and decided on the spot to join forces from then on.
In the final part of the meeting, all attendees would fill out a short questionnaire through Sendsteps. Attendees could indicate if they’d be interested in forming think groups and to volunteer in loneliness prevention projects. With a high response rate:
A more coherent loneliness prevention approach could be designed
A new group of volunteers could be setup
New connections were made between professional organizations
Robert Daverschot
Robert is a professional moderator, presenter and speaker coach. Robert has years of experience at home and abroad and works for a broad range of industries. He has interviewed ministers, captains of industry and even His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In his dealings with the audience, he always uses Sendsteps. With it, an audience is able to voice their opinions, whereby attendees can cast votes or send in comments to speakers and panels on stage. As such, events turn into lively dialogues with everyone being able to speak up!