Loneliness doesn't have to last forever

Lonely Not Alone is a Co-op Foundation campaign created in partnership with young people and specialist co-design agency, Effervescent. We have now stopped promoting the campaign, but this site will remain live until end of 2026.  

Now let’s tell you more about the digital universe… 

Space. Vast, empty, endless. 

Loneliness can feel this way too. When we’re lonely we can feel like a distant star, disconnected from everyone and everything around us. 

But we are fierce, fiery balls of energy, lighting up the darkness. And though it can be hard to see, we’re each part of a constellation – a group of incredible young people, far away from each other but connected by our stories. 

Welcome to the Lonely Not Alone universe 

Here, we all know what it’s like to be lonely. This is a safe place for young people to find their constellation and read stories from other people who’ve experienced loneliness too. You can also read messages of support from people of all ages to remind you that people do care about what you’re going through. 

This is a place that lets us know we’re not alone. 

Here, you belong. 

Our universe is home to 10 constellations. In the Urban Fox constellation we each moved home too many times, and had to start over again and again. In the Hedgehog constellation we were hurt, and we kept everyone at a distance so they wouldn’t get hurt, too. 

Each Lonely Not Alone constellation has been mapped to a real constellation, so you can look up at the night sky from your bedroom window or your back garden and see your star up there, shining bright. 

Loneliness is something that happened to us; it isn’t shameful or embarrassing. And loneliness isn’t forever; there was a before, and there will be an after. 

So however hard it feels, we keep burning bright. We read the stories and messages on the Lonely Not Alone universe to remind us that we might be lonely, but we’re not alone.