A short survey has been launched on connection and belonging in Guernsey. It wants your views on loneliness and suggestions on how to tackle it. The survey contains questions on whether you have an impairment or illness and on barriers to participation including if you are a carer. It would be really helpful to have as many people as possible complete the survey and we will have access to the survey results to see what action might be taken as a result. The survey is anonymous but if you want to be put in a free prize draw you can add your name at the end or email your contact details.

The survey is available by clicking on the button below:

It is hoped that people from the whole community will take part the survey whose launch coincides with Mental Health Awareness Week which runs from 15^th to Sunday 21^st May. If you don’t like doing online surveys you can go to the stand on Seafront Sunday on 21st May to complete a paper version of get help to complete it online. There will be other activities on Seafront Sunday on the stand and the normal fun and other stalls.

Free prize draw prizes are:

1st Prize – Voucher for Iris & Dora value £100

2nd Prize –  Queux Plant Centre voucher  worth £75 and plant and seeds

3rd Prize – 2 Discovery Passes for 1 year. This pass gives you free entry to the Guernsey museums and art galleries.

The survey is being conducted by participants in Guernsey undertaking the “Peace Education and Action for Impact 2023” run by World BEYOND War and the Rotary Action Group for Peace and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Guernsey as part of its 100^th anniversary celebrations. There are 6 other countries across the globe taking part and doing their own peace projects relevant to their local circumstances.

One of the participants, Jacques Le Page explained “We are conducting a survey on loneliness and how people might feel more connected. We have a free raffle with 3 great prizes to thank those that take part. You can fill out the survey online at https://forms.gle/KcmrGpJ8JnTBCiuUA or join us at Seafront Sunday on 21^st May 2023. Paper copies will also be available at Seafront Sunday or we can provide a device for you to complete the survey when you visit our stand. If you want to be entered into the raffle we will need your email address or contact number but otherwise the survey responses are completely anonymous.”

“We are a small group of 5 participants between 18 and 35 years old working on this project with 2 mentors and 2 co-ordinators locally. The Group believes that loneliness is a key issue locally it wanted to help address. We believe the results will be useful to Health Connections, who we have been liaising with, as well as other local charities and organisations. The aim of the project is to make suggestions for enabling a greater feeling of belonging and connectiveness and reducing isolation and loneliness. An anonymised summary report will be available publicly once we have analysed the results.”

The Guernsey and Alderney Wellbeing Survey 2018 showed that 18% of the 2,656 respondents often or always felt lonely, isolated or lacked companionship. There was also evidence that those between 16 and 24 years old were more likely to experience higher levels of loneliness than the general population.

Complete the survey at https://forms.gle/KcmrGpJ8JnTBCiuUA or visit our stand at the GSPCA Seafront Sunday event on 21^st May or email gsypeaceproject23@gmail.com with any other questions on how to take part.