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https://indianexpress.com/article/world/england-city-frome-fights-loneliness-mental-health-7675627/

Pedestrians in a shopping area of Frome, England, which has been getting attention for its fight against loneliness, Dec. 2, 2021. (James Beck/The New York Times)
The Frome model, as it’s known, to battle the global human affliction of loneliness began as an experiment by a local physician eight years ago, and recently locked in permanent funding from the National Health Service.

Written by Peter Wilson
For more than 1,000 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 has been getting attention for something far more unusual and urgent: its fight against loneliness.
Frome’s 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 The New York Times, and has been studied and replicated by countries around the world. The urgency has only been exacerbated by the raging pandemic.

Dr. Helen Kingston, whose effort to combat loneliness, treating it as a medical condition, began eight years ago, Frome, England, Dec. 2, 2021. (James Beck/The New York Times)
The work by 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 a few weeks ago when the National Health Service in Britain locked in permanent funding for the program after years of patchwork financial support.
The efforts haven’t ended at Frome. In November, the government of Victoria, Australia, agreed to create the position, and Japan added one in February amid rising suicide rates. Cities around Britain and as far away as Sweden and Colombia are studying Frome’s experience and hoping to copy its success in reducing emergency hospital admissions, an achievement that is gold dust in a time of rising health costs.

So why Frome? And what was so special about its approach?
The effort begun here is based on a model of health care driven by the local medical clinic, the Frome Medical Practice, that seeks to improve the emotional well-being of patients by tapping into community connections and volunteer groups to help people deal with such problems as loneliness and social isolation, which are not usually viewed as medical problems.
“If this was a franchise, it would be a very attractive one to sell,” said Will Palmer, a 59-year-old fashion industry consultant who helps British brands enter foreign markets.

Janet Copsey, a volunteer, has been trained to advise people about everything from joining choirs and sports groups to finding tips on green lifestyles. (James Beck/The New York Times)
Palmer doubles as one of Frome’s “health connectors,” who link people to community groups and services ranging from home heating advice to help with hearing aids and cooking lessons.
One of the most striking things about the Frome idea is that apart from eight paid connectors like Palmer, this city of just under 30,000 has also trained 1,140 voluntary “community connectors.” Cafe owners, taxi drivers and other ordinary residents have been taught how to advise friends and neighbors about the community groups and services that often go underused for the simple reason that people do not know they exist.
Palmer’s specialty is getting people digitally connected. Recently he was sitting in the Cheese and Grain Cafe giving smartphone lessons to John Willis, a 77-year-old retired builder who feels his generation is being isolated by the rise of online shopping and government services.
“We are being left behind,” Willis said. “Everyone communicates online nowadays, and you have to pay through the nose if you can’t shop online.”
Willis’ digital lessons were organized through the medical practice, along with advice on how to reduce large utility bills that were worrying him after the death of his ex-wife, Eileen, 18 months ago left him depressed and anxious.