Reducing social isolation through Support-nets

Did you know that loneliness is just as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day? In her Professional Doctorate, Jenny Zwijnenburg focuses on scaling up Support-nets to address this issue. This intervention helps people who are socially isolated to come together to form a support network.

Support-nets is a practice-based intervention with proven value. This project aims to scale it further by addressing key challenges. The focus is on effective implementation, sustainability, collaboration between social work and mental healthcare, and strengthening the methodology of peer support.

This PD programme contributes to:

Effective and sustainable support networks
Practical knowledge for social work and mental healthcare
Insights for collaboration and implementation

Support-nets: a participative action-research into the value of a mutual support group
This report investigates how mutual support groups for people facing social isolation create opportunities for participation, belonging, and social support.
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The process takes shape through short-term interventions addressing specific sub-issues. One of the approaches used is action research.

This project strengthens social work and mental healthcare practice by providing knowledge and tools for working with support networks. The insights are broadly applicable to tackling social isolation. The results also contribute to education, for example within Social Work and SPV programmes.