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The Next 21^st Century Epidemic:
Loneliness
 
The Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has said that ‘Loneliness has a mortality effect on a par with daily smoking and has an even greater mortality effect than that associated with obesity.

Loneliness Kills.
We have seen it in our valley, and we can see it right across the country.

Ever since the pandemic, loneliness has become a driver of both suicide and mental health issues.

Erich Fromm in his book ‘The Art of Loving’ says that the greatest driver of mental health problems is loneliness.

In a recent Pitkin county community health survey of 587 respondents ten percent of respondents said they had considered suicide in the past year and 11% said a loved one had considered the idea, while 2% had actually attempted suicide and 11% said they’d lost a loved one to suicide in the past year. The vast majority said that they felt excluded.

We know there is a high suicide rate in the valley. Nearly 25% of us have some contact with mental illness. Just over 4% have major depression. Addiction and recovery are prevalent and there is a drug problem in our schools.

We believe much of this is about loneliness.

And many of us have had experience of this firsthand.

Those of us who have come here from afar find it difficult to make friends. And, being a resort area, there is a seasonal nature to our social connection. When the lifts stop, so do the friendships. This was exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, and by the influx of new money forcing up rents and making life in general less affordable.

We all know loneliness, and yet it is very difficult to do anything about it. People who are lonely often crave human contact. But their state of mind makes it difficult to form connections with others.

All of which is why a group of us have decided to come together and form ‘The Loneliness Project’.

Our mission is to create understanding around loneliness and to come up with practical solutions to deal with the issues involved.
And because no one wants to be thought of as ‘lonely’ we are also starting a group called ‘Together in Action’ to implement ideas that might help.

Partners
At the moment we are partnering with:
The Aspen Chapel
Aspen Community Church
The Good Neighbor Project
Roaring Fork Leadership Academy.
Aspen Family Connections
Mind Springs Heath
                                           The Hope Center
                                           The Senior Center
                                           HeadQuarters
                                       
                                        
We are only just getting started and need all the help, resources, ideas and friends we can get.

If you recognize this as something you feel strongly about and would like to join us as we try to improve things in our valley,
please do click here and let us know you would like to be involved