Alone Together

As COVID-19 struck the world, people found themselves in lockdown in their homes. Loneliness is a significant challenge for many people, and Deputy Director Holly Walker has been investigating policy approaches to helping minimise the negative effects of loneliness.

This work includes a submission to the Interim Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, an article in the journal Policy Quarterly, and the report available on this page. The report is the first in a series on “post-pandemic futures”.

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Latest Media

• NZHerald: Shane Te Pou: Loneliness is a silent pandemic in Aotearoa (December, 2023).
• Stuff: Feeling lonely? You're not alone. Here's how good public policy can help (August, 2020).
• NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus: People on low incomes lonelier during lockdown - report (June, 2020).
• The Spinoff: The perils of loneliness in the time of Covid-19 (April, 2020).
• The Spinoff: How our leaders can minimise the negative effects of loneliness after Covid-19 (May, 2020).
• Stuff: Loneliness and the digital divide (June, 2020).
• The Spinoff: As universities go ever more online, students are getting left out in the cold (June, 2020).
• Newshub: New study finds Kiwis lonelier than ever during lockdown (June, 2020).
• Newshub: Guaranteed minimum income needed to cure loneliness epidemic after COVID-19 - Helen Clark Foundation (June, 2020).
• RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown exacerbates loneliness - report (June, 2020).
• RNZ Morning Report: Kiwis lonelier than ever during lockdown - report (June, 2020).
• Waatea News: Tackling loneliness part of COVID recovery (June, 2020).