We know that loneliness is a public health issue - and can have profound impacts on mental and physical health.
This issue has increased during the global pandemic. During our BIG community conversation in the summer, older community members highlighted the importance of being able to be an 'armchair volunteer' and get involved in the town's efforts to provide support through this period.
Saltburn Community Response CIC has been supporting people throughout the pandemic, with befriending services, shopping and local events.
This project aims to support young people to interview older people from Saltburn, about their experiences of the pandemic. The impact of these interviews will be increased confidence in using digital technologies, reduced loneliness in participants and increased understanding between the generations. Participants will also be contributing to a wider report into the needs of older community members.
Interviews will be recorded and housed on our website as an oral history of the current period. Interviews will be carried out by young people from our local school. For more info on the benefits of oral history projects please see here: https://www.ohs.org.uk/advice/how-to-do-oral-history/
We need funds to cover the costs of 20 tablets which we will use in the project. This will enable participants to learn new skills around the use of video calling and also mean the students can interview or even potentially live stream people into their lessons. These tablets can also be reused for future projects.
The interviews will increase older people's access to technology and reduce loneliness. It will increase understanding between the generations. We know that lonely people don't always want to just use a service. They want to contribute something of value and feel they are being of service.
The interviews will also be developed into a report and a short film into the experiences of older adults during this period.