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Neighbours Every Day: Create Belonging | Share Belonging
Help create and share belonging across Australia and build the inclusive communities you want to live in, one relationship at a time.
How to Create and Share Belonging
Watch: Our 2024 TV Community Service Announcement
Day of Action
The annual day of action for Neighbours Every Day is called Neighbour Day – celebrated on the last Sunday in March.
Why get involved in Neighbours Every Day?
Social isolation and loneliness can affect any person at any stage of life. While loneliness is a normal human emotion, strong social connections can help protect you from chronically experiencing these feelings. Chronic loneliness can affect your mental, emotional and physical health. While the answers to loneliness may not be straightforward, having a variety of respectful relationships is fundamental to creating more resilient individuals and communities. Neighbours Every Day promotes the importance of these connections, every day of the year.
Strong social connections take effort. To truly reap the benefits of social connection, you must feel like you belong. Belonging is the sense of safety and comfort you feel when you are accepted for who you are. It’s more than inclusion, it’s an authentic acceptance which leaves you feeling both connected and supported. There are a range of ways that we can all work to create and share belonging, both for ourselves and for those in our communities.
Creating and sharing belonging by building and maintaining respectful relationships can change communities and has a positive effect on people’s wellbeing. Click here to read 10 reasons to share belonging.
Independent evaluations show that people who get involved in the campaign have improved mental health, wellbeing and sustained reductions in loneliness. Some key outcomes of the independent evaluations show:
- Those who got involved in the campaign are protected against the mental ill-health effects of the pandemic (2021).
- Participation leads to significant reductions in loneliness that were still present six months on from the campaign (2020).
- Neighbour Day participation was associated with people having wider and larger social networks, and more frequent occasions and time spent socialising (2021).
- The campaign increases neighbourhood identification – the sense of belonging you feel when you connect with your community (2021, 2020).
- Neighbourhood identification is the key to reductions in loneliness and social cohesion (2021).
- Neighbourhood identification has also mediated wellbeing during COVID-19 lockdowns (2021).
- Improvements in relationships with your community led to greater relationship satisfaction across all types of relationships (eg. family, friends, colleagues) (2021).
- These benefits were felt equally by everyone. Benefits of the campaign were the same across different ages, genders, educational background, relationship status, employment status, socioeconomic background and between those highly involved versus those casually involved (2021).
By getting involved you can:
- Help raise awareness about loneliness and tangibly address loneliness across Australian communities.
- Improve your own and others' mental health. Create resilient communities which cope better during collective change or crisis.
- Foster respectful relationships every day of the year. Meet new people, grow your network and nurture previous connections.
- Create communities which generate a sense of belonging for everyone. Creating and sharing belonging is an opportunity to reflect on what we can do better. Belonging doesn’t always come easily. True inclusion and lasting connection takes consideration and practice.
Jump onto our Belonging page for more information
Why get involved
Why get involved in Neighbours Every Day?
Social isolation and loneliness can affect any person at any stage of life. While loneliness is a normal human emotion, strong social connections can help protect you from chronically experiencing these feelings. Chronic loneliness can affect your mental, emotional and physical health. While the answers to loneliness may not be straightforward, having a variety of respectful relationships is fundamental to creating more resilient individuals and communities. Neighbours Every Day promotes the importance of these connections, every day of the year.
Strong social connections take effort. To truly reap the benefits of social connection, you must feel like you belong. Belonging is the sense of safety and comfort you feel when you are accepted for who you are. It’s more than inclusion, it’s an authentic acceptance which leaves you feeling both connected and supported. There are a range of ways that we can all work to create and share belonging, both for ourselves and for those in our communities.
Creating and sharing belonging by building and maintaining respectful relationships can change communities and has a positive effect on people’s wellbeing. Click here to read 10 reasons to share belonging.
Independent evaluations show that people who get involved in the campaign have improved mental health, wellbeing and sustained reductions in loneliness. Some key outcomes of the independent evaluations show:
- Those who got involved in the campaign are protected against the mental ill-health effects of the pandemic (2021).
- Participation leads to significant reductions in loneliness that were still present six months on from the campaign (2020).
- Neighbour Day participation was associated with people having wider and larger social networks, and more frequent occasions and time spent socialising (2021).
- The campaign increases neighbourhood identification – the sense of belonging you feel when you connect with your community (2021, 2020).
- Neighbourhood identification is the key to reductions in loneliness and social cohesion (2021).
- Neighbourhood identification has also mediated wellbeing during COVID-19 lockdowns (2021).
- Improvements in relationships with your community led to greater relationship satisfaction across all types of relationships (eg. family, friends, colleagues) (2021).
- These benefits were felt equally by everyone. Benefits of the campaign were the same across different ages, genders, educational background, relationship status, employment status, socioeconomic background and between those highly involved versus those casually involved (2021).
By getting involved you can:
- Help raise awareness about loneliness and tangibly address loneliness across Australian communities.
- Improve your own and others' mental health. Create resilient communities which cope better during collective change or crisis.
- Foster respectful relationships every day of the year. Meet new people, grow your network and nurture previous connections.
- Create communities which generate a sense of belonging for everyone. Creating and sharing belonging is an opportunity to reflect on what we can do better. Belonging doesn’t always come easily. True inclusion and lasting connection takes consideration and practice.
Jump onto our Belonging page for more information
How to get involved
Be inspired!
Meet the winners of our 2023 Tell Us Your Story competition and read their inspiring stories of creating belonging.
Every connection helps create and share belonging
Whether through a cuppa, a picnic in the park, a message of support or a simple act of friendship with those around us, connection can, and should, be something we all strive for whenever we can.
Individuals, community organisations and local Councils can foster belonging among their networks by promoting the Neighbours Every Day resources and creating inclusive, welcoming spaces and events for people to connect.
For more information on Relationships Australia and the range of services we provide please visit our website