For women facing domestic violence or experiencing homelessness across Australia, feelings of loneliness and social exclusion can be crushing.
But it’s an issue that often gets edged to the sidelines as frontline services stretch themselves to ensure women’s basic needs, like immediate safety, shelter and food, are met.
4 Voices is a charity working to provide frontline support, resource navigation and social connection for women experiencing crisis through its fleet of vans, known as connection hubs, in 35 communities across Queensland and New South Wales.
4 Voices founder Jo Westh says loneliness is a profound issue impacting women who come to the organisation for support, often seeking social and digital connection.
“It [loneliness] is top of mind for women who are experiencing domestic violence and homelessness, because it is a very lonely existence,” Westh tells Women’s Agenda.
“Most of them feel isolated and judged and separate from the community.”
Westh started the organisation at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when loneliness became an acute issue for many Australians. For those on the margins of society, it was crippling.
Five years on, loneliness remains a top health issue. And like domestic violence and homelessness, loneliness is wrapped up in stigma.
Medibank’s latest Loneliness Population Index found addressing the stigma associated with loneliness is just as important as equipping people with the tools to know how to deal with it.
The index found Australians are still most likely to attribute the experience of loneliness to social ineptitude and a typical ‘lonely’ person is still perceived to be shy, feeling sad, introverted and reserved.
But the statistics tell a different story. According to the Medibank research, more than half of Australians say they feel lonely in a typical week. This has remained high since Covid. For those on the margins, loneliness is often felt more acutely.
“[During Covid], women experiencing violence were trapped in their own homes with an abusive partner, and not reaching out for help for fear of the repercussions. Many women stayed silent because of that fear or sense of embarrassment [being] overwhelming,” Westh says.
“Homelessness polarises the Australian public because there’s a stigma attached to being homeless and judgement that’s always made. People experiencing homelessness are often marginalised and ignored.”
A problem that can longer be ignored
When Westh started 4 Voices, she went through a charity registration process and says loneliness was not recognised as a significant enough issue.
“You have to prove that the cause you’re trying to address through your charity meets the Charities Commission requirements. In my constitution, I wrote about our concern for women who are experiencing domestic violence, homelessness and loneliness, and I was asked to take out the word loneliness, because it wasn’t perceived to have been a significant enough issue to base a charity’s purpose on,” she says.
“Over the last five years — wow, how that has changed! Now we apply for grants that have a requirement to address social isolation or social cohesion.”
Westh says the women who come to seek support from 4 Voices are often deeply impacted by loneliness as a result of their circumstances.
“We’ve got one lady who went through domestic violence and ended up with extraordinary loneliness because she was isolated from family and friends due to the nature of the relationship,” Westh explains.
“She was told what to eat, what to say, how to dress, what to do, where to go. And she ended up at 41 kilograms because she lost weight and her health deteriorated. Loneliness can really affect your physical health as well.”
So how does 4 Voices make a difference?
Whether it’s a cup of tea and a chat with a friendly volunteer, help with setting up a mobile phone or laptop, or connection to accommodation or other support services, 4 Voices makes a practical difference in women’s lives.
Last year, 4 Voices served more than 33,00 warm drinks, helped 838 women fleeing violence and 1166 people who have been homeless. Importantly, it provided company and comfort to 3, 945 people who were lonely.
Westh says the responsibility is on all of us to help fight what she calls a pandemic of disconnection.
“It is about all of us doing our bit to help people that are in need. And it starts at connection,” she says.
“It is simple to not ignore people that are struggling. It’s simple to talk to somebody on the street who is experiencing homelessness. To talk to a woman without judgment who is experiencing domestic violence.
“It’s not hard to do, and you’re not going to be harmed by it. People are sponges when it comes to being treated like a human being and given the respect that they deserve.”
To learn more about Medibank’s commitment to reducing loneliness head to We Are Lonely | Medibank.
Research commissioned by FiftyFive5 on behalf of Medibank. Research was conducted in July 2024, among a sample of (n=4,131) Australians.