Building Connections in Haverhill: VCS Capacity-Building on Loneliness

Following the success of last summer's training in Norfolk, in partnership with the County Council and Community Action Norfolk (CAN), and co-produced a VCS-led shared vision for Building Connection in Norfolk. This has led to an exciting chapter of work, delivering film-making workshops in Dereham and Norwich and supporting Norfolk’s VCS to come together to create films that change the narrative on loneliness and encourage the much-needed behaviour change. We’ll be coordinating a collaborative social media campaign throughout the month of July.

Now, we’re thrilled to invite Haverhill’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)—from grassroots groups to established organisations—to be part of the next chapter.

Join us for an interactive and uplifting training session is designed to build and deepen our collective understanding of loneliness and connection. Together, we’ll explore how to create resilient communities that prioritise belonging and mental wellbeing.

Loneliness is a pressing issue in Haverhill and beyond. Disconnection doesn’t just affect individuals—it ripples outwards, contributing to mental health challenges, social fragmentation, and broader societal issues like addiction, racism, and declining civic trust.

This workshop isn’t just about learning— You’ll have the opportunity to co-produce a shared vision for building connection across Suffolk, supported by ongoing learning and practical follow-up resources.

You will:

• Deepen your expertise
• Co-produce a strategic approach/plan
• Build a shared understanding
• Form lasting relationships with other VCS professionals and community leaders

All are welcome—whether you’re a volunteer, community organiser, CEO, councillor, social worker, health professional, or simply someone who cares about building a more connected community.

About 32 Steps to Togetherness

On a separate but related note, CSC has launched a national movement all about building connections within and between communities, called 32 Steps to Togetherness. Through CSC’s work across UK, the CSC team has rightly concluded that many issues we face as a country (in terms of poor health, inequality, division) ultimately stem from a shared root cause, which is the lack of social connection and loss of community. The Steps to Togetherness movement intends to support community leaders (like you) who are bringing people together in their respective communities (link to short film) and bring them together in a “community of community leaders”.

As well as bringing people together within and between communities, Steps to Togetherness provides a robust conceptual framework for collaboration across silos. The movement is centred around a practical resource with 32 actions we can all take to build connections, within as well as between communities.

Through Steps to Togetherness, CSC has been delivering Building Connections Workshops (previously called The Loneliness Reduction Training) across the UK, including in Norfolk, London, Tees Valley, Stoke-on-Trent, Rochdale, Suffolk. In Norfolk, the workshops led to the co-production of a shared vision which recognised the potential of nature - one of Norfolk’s key assets.

About Civil Society Consulting

Civil Society Consulting CIC is a non-profit working across the UK, with strong connections in the North East, North West and East of England, as well as in London where we are based. In a nutshell: we want health, equality and social solidarity (cohesion). We believe that restoring a sense of community and developing communities is the key, and therefore that the voluntary community sector (VCS) is key! We aim to strengthen the VCS sector by being a reliable source of excellent support for VCS organisations, which is either affordable (to medium-sized and larger organisations) or free (to small, grassroots organisations led by and for marginalised communities).