Participle

In 2008, we piloted a wonderful service we call Get-Together. It's aim is to reduce some truly horrific statistics. Currently, in the UK, 3.1 million people over 65 do not see a friend, neighbour or family member, at least once a week and 1.8 million have no contact with friends, family or neighbours at least once a month. The link between social isolation and mental health is very strong, highlighted well in Daniel Goleman's book, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships - “Studies done over two decades involving more than thirty-seven thousand people show that social isolation - the sense that you have nobody with whom you can share your private feelings or have close contact - doubles the chance of sickness or death. Isolation itself, a 1987 report in Science concluded, "is as significant to mortality rates as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and lack of physical exercise." Indeed, smoking increases mortality risk by a factor of just 1.6, while social isolation does so by a factor of 2.0, making it a greater health risk."

So, Participle, in conjunction with Westminster Council, developed this service called Get Together. For the past year, we have been developing a business case, and getting partners on board to finance and launch Get-Together across London. This is planned for 2010, so watch this space. In the meantime, watch this great film made of the pilot:



For more information on Get-Together, view the case study. Also, read this article here written by Jonathan Freedland.