In a Time of Crisis, a City Fights Isolation
In a Time of Crisis, a City Fights Isolation
Frome, a small city in England, has taken an innovative approach to mental health with its fight against loneliness.
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NYT) FROME, England For more than a thousand years this market city was best known for products made from wool and woven fabrics and later for its large iron statues, including the Lady Justice figure that still sits atop the dome of the Old Bailey court about 100 miles east in London.
But these days, Frome (pronounced FROOM) has been getting attention for something far more unusual and urgent: Its fight against loneliness.
Fromes approach to the global human affliction began as an experiment by a local physician, Dr. Helen Kingston, eight years ago. It caught the attention of publications of all kinds, including this one, and has been studied and replicated by countries around the world. The urgency has only been exacerbated by the raging pandemic.
The work by Dr. Kingston and her team was first recognized by then Prime Minister Theresa May who appointed a member of Parliament, Tracey Crouch, as the first minister for loneliness in 2018. But the Frome Model, as it is known, reached a milestone just a few weeks ago when the National Health Service (N.H.S.) in Britain, locked in permanent funding for the program after years of patchwork financial support. ............(more)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/business/england-city-fights-isolation.html