Gladys Cobbina-Agyemang with Juliana Romas Da Costa Hodel

LONELINESS should be treated as a “public health crisis” as more women find themselves cut off from their neighbours, a charity worker has said.

Gladys Cobbina-Agyemang has been running embroidery sessions for women battling social isolation, and said that society needs to wake up to the ever-increasing number of people struggling to cope.

“People who experience loneliness for a long period of time can find it turning into depression”, said Ms Cobbina-Agyemang. “It’s this feeling of emptiness, you feel like you don’t fit in. It’s something we need to address, and educate people to identify it, and let them know they can ask for help”.

The sessions, which are run out of the Jean Stokes Community Centre every Monday, see women improve their weaving and create lasting bonds.

Embroidery session at Jean Stokes Community Centre

“It’s exciting to see that they are bringing people together. Even today, the group were asking me if they can continue the training when the course is finished, they’ve set up a WhatsApp group, they are finding their own friends,” said Ms Cobbina-Agyemang.

The charity worker said that there were specific periods in which women were likely to experience loneliness – when they retire from work or find themselves at home with a newborn. She said: “Going to work is a form of socialising, you meet people, talk to people. If you are at home all the time, it can create quite a lot of isolation.”

She added: “All throughout my adult years, I lived by myself with my daughter and my son, and I remember being with my son when he was born and feeling so lonely. We need more funded activities, new ways of engaging with people in a community, we need to create new opportunities and employment.”