While Christmas is a time of celebration with your loved ones and making memories, some people can’t enjoy this special time of year. For many, including several of our service users, Christmas can be especially difficult for those struggling with loneliness and don’t have loved ones around to celebrate with.

While loneliness and social isolation are problems that happen all year round, it is particularly harder during this time due to a range of factors including harsher weather conditions making it harder to travel outside, shops closing earlier or shutting completely, shorter days as well as changes in health. All these factors together mean that it’s more difficult for people to sustain social connections.

Effects of loneliness:

Loneliness has been linked to the increased risk of physical and mental illness including coronary heart disease, risk of stroke, dementia, depression, anxiety and more. While the Christmas period is supposed to be a time to create new, happy memories with your loved ones, those who are alone are forced to dwell on these past memories, making Christmas time more difficult for them emotionally.

How to help our service users:

For many of our service users, their carer might be the only person that they see each day. We know our service users are grateful for the support that we provide and especially on Christmas Day of all days. While on your care calls please just take a moment to speak to them while you carry on your duties for each call, even a brief conversation could make their day.

For our carers:

While this may be a difficult time for many of our service users, we understand that this can be difficult for many of our staff also. If you are one of our carers and are feeling low, please contact our Mental Health Lead, Carol Jackson by ringing 07751 828989 or emailing carol.jackson@dalecare.co.uk. You can also sign up to our FREE employee assistance programme, TELUS Health, where you can receive access to well-being support and information, including a helpline. To sign up to TELUS, please email danielle.rippon@dalecare.co.uk for your invitation email.