Loneliness Awareness Week: Let’s Reconnect and Rebuild Community

Shane Warren
Aug 4
2 min read

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

4 August 2025

Loneliness Awareness Week: Let’s Reconnect and Rebuild Community

This Loneliness Awareness Week, the Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association of Australia (VMHPAA)is calling on individuals, communities, and workplaces to recognise the often invisible impact of loneliness on mental health and to take action.

While loneliness is a deeply human experience, it’s frequently hidden beneath the surface of our busy lives. From young people struggling with identity, to older adults living alone, to new parents, carers, or workers in remote settings loneliness can touch anyone, at any stage of life.

“Loneliness is more than just being alone, it’s about feeling unseen, unheard, and disconnected,” said Shane Warren, Chair of VMHPAA. “This week is a powerful reminder that a kind word, a simple check-in, or a shared moment of connection can be life-changing. We all have a role to play.”

VMHPAA highlights the critical role that vocationally trained mental health practitioners - counsellors, community support workers, peer mentors, and lived experience practitioners - play in addressing loneliness at the grassroots level. These professionals are often embedded in schools, aged care settings, regional communities, and recovery programs meeting people where they are, and helping them rebuild connection and purpose.

“Connection is the heartbeat of wellbeing,” added Susan Sandy, VMHPAA Secretary and long-time relationship counsellor. “Loneliness affects our physical, emotional, and relational health. Supporting practitioners who understand this nuance is key to building a more connected society.”

This Loneliness Awareness Week, VMHPAA encourages everyone to: