Helping someone else

For workplaces, schools and congregations

Practical steps workplaces, schools, congregations, libraries and local governments can take to reduce loneliness, with examples from around the world.

Do this first

Choose one regular, low-pressure way for people to meet, such as a weekly shared lunch, a welcome buddy for newcomers, or a drop-in coffee hour, and run it for three months before judging it.

Loneliness isn't only a private problem. Where people work, learn, worship and live shapes how connected they feel. Organizations can make connection easier, or harder, often without noticing. The World Health Organization's Commission on Social Connection estimates that people worldwide are affected by loneliness, so in any group of a few dozen people, some are likely to be feeling it right now.

You don't need a big budget. Most of what works is about time, space and habits.

What works almost everywhere

  • Regular, repeated contact. People connect by seeing the same faces again and again. One big annual event does less than a small weekly one.
  • Shared activities. Doing something together, like cooking, building, singing or volunteering, is easier than "mingling".
  • A personal welcome. Newcomers who are greeted by name and introduced to someone are more likely to come back.
  • Low cost and easy access. Free, step-free, close to transit, at times that suit carers and shift workers.
  • A named person. Someone whose job, or volunteer role, is to notice who's missing.
  • No stigma. Frame it as connection and community, not "help for lonely people".

Workplaces

Many people spend more waking hours at work than anywhere else, and remote work has changed how coworkers connect.

  • Onboarding buddies: pair every new hire with a peer for their first months.
  • Team rituals: a weekly coffee, a shared lunch, or a short check-in at the start of meetings.
  • Protect some in-person or video time that isn't about tasks, especially for remote and hybrid teams.
  • Employee groups around interests, identities, caregiving or volunteering.
  • Train managers to notice withdrawal and have a kind, private conversation, and to point people to the employee assistance program (EAP) if there is one.
  • Respect boundaries. Social events should be optional, inclusive and not centered on alcohol.

See Work and coworkers and Remote work, night shifts and long hours.

Schools, colleges and universities

  • Make sure every student has at least one trusted adult they can talk to.
  • Structured lunch and recess options: clubs, buddy benches, games, library lunch groups for kids who find the cafeteria hard.
  • Clubs with no tryouts, at times that don't require a car.
  • Peer mentoring for new students, transfers, international students and first-generation students.
  • Teach social and emotional skills, including how to include others.
  • Take bullying seriously and respond quickly, including online bullying.
  • Make counseling easy to find, and make sure students know about 988 (in the U.S.).

See Lonely children and teens and Students and graduates.

Congregations and faith communities

Many congregations already do much of this. A few extra steps can reach people who slip through.

  • Notice who's missing. A simple phone tree or visiting team can check on members who stop coming, are ill, recently bereaved or newly alone.
  • Welcome newcomers personally, and invite them to something small, like a meal or a group, not just the main service.
  • Small groups around life stages, interests, grief or caregiving.
  • Shared meals after services or midweek, open to the wider neighborhood.
  • Rides for people who no longer drive.
  • Open your space to community groups, support groups and secular activities.

See Religious and spiritual communities.

Libraries and community centers

Libraries are among the last free indoor places where anyone can spend time without buying anything.

  • Host regular, free groups: book clubs, conversation circles for language learners, tech help, crafts, games, walking groups.
  • Offer home delivery or phone check-ins for homebound readers.
  • Keep a simple board or list of local groups and services.
  • Welcome everyone, including people experiencing homelessness, with dignity.

See Neighbors, libraries, cafés and "third places".

Health care

  • Ask about loneliness in routine visits, especially for older adults, new parents and people with long-term illness.
  • Link people to community support, not just medication. In England, the NHS uses social prescribing: GPs and other staff refer people to "link workers" who help them find local groups, activities and advice. Healthwatch England says GP visits are for non-medical problems, such as loneliness, money or housing.

Local and national governments

  • Name someone responsible. In January 2018 the UK government named a minister to lead its work on loneliness, Tracey Crouch, then Minister for Sport and Civil Society, in response to the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. At the time, the government cited research that people in the UK always or often felt lonely. In February 2021, Japan appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as its first minister in charge of loneliness and isolation, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Design for connection: benches, parks, safe sidewalks, public toilets, community gardens, and transit that reaches older and rural residents.
  • Fund the basics: senior centers, youth centers, libraries, community meals and volunteer programs.
  • Measure it. Include loneliness questions in local surveys so you can see whether things improve.
  • Support 211 and local helplines so people can find what exists.

In the U.S., the Surgeon General's 2023 advisory on loneliness includes recommendations for governments, schools, workplaces, health systems and communities. Worldwide, the WHO Commission on Social Connection published its first report in 2025.

For organizers and leaders

0 of 6 done (0%). Saved only in this browser.

If you want to start something yourself, see Start something: a group, a dinner, a club. For trusted national organizations, see Organizations, agencies and websites.

Sources

Last reviewed: October 9, 2026