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About the campaign

A global campaign hosted by loneliness charity Marmalade Trust

What happens during Loneliness Awareness Week?

Loneliness Awareness Week is dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness by inspiring conversation and communication.

By talking about it, we can reduce the stigma surrounding this natural human emotion, and by hosting a connection activity we can create a sense of belonging and reduce loneliness in our communities.

The campaign has reached millions across the world through conversations on social media and partnerships. #LonelinessAwarenessWeek has trended and hundreds of organisations, charities and individuals get involved including the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and the NHS!

Who runs the campaign?

Marmalade Trust offers support for people of all all ages who are experiencing loneliness. The team launched Loneliness Awareness Week in 2017 and now work with partners across the world to raise awareness and inspire people to create connections.

Previous campaigns

Highlights from 9 years of Loneliness Awareness Week.

2023

Connection Matters

In 2023 our campaign centred on the importance of connection. We were thrilled to have worked with representatives worldwide to create supportive communities and spread our messaging further. We reached 268 million people, our hashtag trended on Twitter and 1,500+ connection-building events were held. We partnered with neighbourhood app Nextdoor on groundbreaking research, as well as other fantastic organisations. 86% of people felt more valued and connected as a result of the campaign!

2021

We get lonely

In 2021 we highlighted the importance of building a greater awareness and acceptance of loneliness. We reached over 100 million people of all ages took all over the world. We partnered with Direct2Florist on a campaign called ‘Lonely Bouquets’, where over 900 florists left bouquets in their local community. Those lucky enough to find one passed them on to show kindness. Royal Mail once again supported our campaign, printing a postmark on all stamped mail during the week.

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2020

One Less Lonely Voice

Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, we hosted a virtual campaign to raise awareness of loneliness. On the first day of the campaign, conversations about loneliness were happening every 2.6 seconds and our hashtag trended all day. We reached around 271.5 million people – all without leaving our homes. We saw almost 20,000 charities, organisations, companies and individuals get involved online, including the Royal Family, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, NHS trusts and all Government departments.

2019

We kicked off with the launch of the #LetsTalkLoneliness campaign in collaboration with The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Our founder and CEO, Amy Perrin, spent the day in London meeting MP’s and charities to discuss the importance of opening up a dialogue about loneliness in order to reduce the stigma attached to it. On day one conversations about loneliness taking place every 5 seconds, and #LetsTalkLoneliness was trending for 10 hours. 800 events took place across the UK, from coffee mornings and book clubs, to walking clubs and art workshops.

2018

The response to our second-ever Loneliness Awareness Week was incredible. Across the country, people of all ages got involved with the campaign and raise awareness of loneliness. We supported 252 events across the UK - from talks in businesses to group walks with dogs. We were featured in the local and national press, from our founder and CEO Amy Perrin being interviewed on ITV to Marmalade Trust and Loneliness Awareness Week being featured in publications from The Telegraph to Female First to the Daily Mail and Bristol Evening Post.

2017

We pioneered the first-ever Loneliness Awareness Week campaign to reduce the stigma of loneliness and to empower everyone to talk more openly about it. It took our founder, Amy, and a couple of volunteers just 6 weeks to launch. We initiated the ‘#LetsTalkLoneliness’ movement (since adopted by the government). We held a film premiere of Lorna, and we were featured on BBC Points West and BBC Radio Bristol. We interviewed people on the street, videoed short clips of children talking about what loneliness means to them and ran school workshops on the subject. Little did we know how much the campaign would grow!

2022

That Lonely Feeling

Loneliness Awareness Week continued to grow, and we noticed a positive shift in the way people talk about loneliness. Our 2022 campaign focused on the many and varied times in life when we experience loneliness, to drive awareness that loneliness is something that affects us all. We reached 50 million people with our campaign. It was brilliant to be part of Eden Project Communities #MonthOfCommunity.

2024

Random Acts of Connection

Our theme encouraged everyone to increase those simple, everyday moments of connection which help us feel happier and less lonely.

It was fantastic to see over 3,000 connection-building activities take place across the UK and around the world. Our campaign reached 638,000 people across the UK and globally on social media, the campaign hashtag trended on X. 87% of people told us they had started a conversation with someone new about loneliness during the week. Read more >

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2025

Meeting Loneliness Together

By talking about loneliness openly and meeting it together, we can reduce stigma and build more compassionate, connected communities. We were thrilled that 6497 connection-building activities took place across the UK and globally, with the campaign reaching 231 million people. 96% of people who responded to our feedback survey felt 'quite' or 'extremely connected' after taking part. Read more >

Why does loneliness matter?

Loneliness is a natural human emotion, but research shows that stigma and shame stop us acknowledging our feelings of loneliness and talking about them.

This leads to increasing loneliness and social isolation - which has negative impacts on physical and mental health. In 2023, the World Health Organisation declared loneliness a global health crisis and in 2025 published their report From loneliness to social connection: charting a path to healthier societies, which mentioned the work of Marmalade Trust to reduce loneliness.

What can you do to get involved?

From coffee mornings and book clubs to walking clubs and art workshops, to neighbourhood bake sales and speed friending - the aim of the week is conversation and connection!

Use the campaign resources, including chatty table signs to create connection corners in your local cafes or pubs pubs, print off the connection cards and put loneliness on your team meeting agenda, or use the social media toolkit to start a conversation about loneliness with your online community.

Whatever connection activity you're planning, whether it's laughter yoga, swing dancing, shared office lunches or a cook-offs - you can add it to the Connections Map and we will promote it as part of the campaign.

Why not make your event a fundraising activity? You can donate directly on the Just Giving page and all money goes towards supporting people who are experiencing chronic loneliness.

Join our social community

Taking part in Loneliness Awareness Week can be as simple as connecting on social media. Share your story with our hashtags: #LonelinessAwarenessWeek #GlobalLonelinessAwarenessWeek