Connecting Durham: Friends and Friendship Projects
Since April 2021, we have investigated how people stay connected to others within their communities in County Durham. We heard of the challenges faced by individuals, as well as attitudes and visions for friendship-based services.
Many voiced concerns for their local neighbourhoods, sharing with us the improvements they believed would bring change to their communities. In particular, we explored the experiences of those who have felt lonely or isolated. These voices have shaped phase II of the project, which is comprised of two elements:
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Your Young Opinions - an online survey and a series of interviews and focus groups, exploring social isolation in young people aged 18-25.
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Time Together projects - testing befriending models and friendship-based services in our local rural and market town regions.
Time Together Projects
In partnership with two organisations across County Durham, we will be developing and evaluating friendship-based services. We are working with:
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East Durham Trust (EDT), a charity based in Peterlee, East Durham
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Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS), based in Middleton-on-Teesdale, Barnard Castle.
These partner organisations will be delivering services to isolated, housebound individuals (for UTASS, users will also be elderly) to help them access their community and services. The PCP Research Team will then seek to interview users and volunteers to establish how effective the services are in our region.