The Lonely Not Alone Campaign starts today, 7 October.
A national campaign, created by young people, to beat the stigma of youth loneliness started again this Wednesday.
The Lonely Not Alone campaign encourages everyone, young and not so young, to wear yellow socks to show they care about youth loneliness and to stand in solidarity with young people who experience loneliness. Every time someone wears yellow socks, they show young people everywhere that youth loneliness matters.
Originally developed in 2019 by a group of nine people who had experienced youth loneliness and in partnership with the specialist youth co-design agency, Effervescent and the Co-Op Foundation, the colour yellow was chosen as it reminded them of hope, while the semi-hidden nature of socks reflected what loneliness had felt like for them.
Research released alongside the campaign found that only 26% of young people were confident talking about loneliness, and even fewer (23%) believed that society treated it as a serious social issue. Researchers spoke to 2,044 young people aged 10 to 25 years old UK-wide and found that less than a third (31%) would be comfortable asking for help if they felt lonely.
However, the Co-op Foundation research also found that lonely young people were proactively trying to overcome their feelings of loneliness, and help others:
- 74% of young people had taken at least one action that helped with their own feelings of loneliness
- 73% had tried to help other young people who might be lonely
That is why later in the year, The Loneliness Campaign North Yorkshire will be launching our own youth loneliness campaign to encourage young people across our county to talk about their own loneliness and encourage them to speak to others and seek support to overcome it.
To start that conversation why not get involved in the Lonely Not Alone campaign this year and show solidarity with 
young people across the county who feel lonely or socially isolated? Wear some yellow socks and share a photo of your “Outfit of the Day” online with the hashtags #OOTDYellowSocks and #LonelyNotAlone, and tag the Lonely Not Alone account for Instagram or Twitter. They are not fussy either – your Outfit of the Day can be whatever you like, from high fashion to your favourite sports kit!
Get involved, wear yellow socks and show young people that they might be lonely but they are not alone.
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