Alex Greenwich MP met with our Open Support Management team recently. Alex is the Independent Member for Sydney in the NSW Parliament. He is the Chairperson of the NSW Legislative Assembly’s Environment and Planning Committee and a member of the Premier’s Homelessness Council. He is committed to working for a liveable, sustainable, and progressive Sydney for all. We enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the health crisis in our communities related to social isolation and loneliness, needs which we have been addressing since 1996. Our discussion was led by Megan Stevens our Social Isolation Program Manager who outlined this issue and how we are addressing it in a very individualised way depending on clients’ needs and wishes. Alex was particularly interested in the very broad demographics, case studies, and the interrelationship with mental health and homelessness. With an emerging global focus on social isolation and loneliness as a significant health issue, we discussed ways we might work together to amplify awareness, to share our model and to highlight the related issues of funding for programs of this kind.
We are looking forward to continuing the conversation.