Social connection enhances wellbeing of individuals and communities. Drawing upon insights from the ARC Linkage project 'Activating Social Connection to Address Isolation in Australia,' – a collaborative effort between Universities, Neami National and other community organisations – this symposium explores the dynamics of social connection and its foundational role in fostering resilience and holistic health outcomes. The project examined how diverse residents of Melbourne's expanding outer suburbs experience social connection and loneliness. Emphasising a strengths-based perspective, the symposium moves beyond conventional discussions of loneliness. It integrates research findings, practical insights, and living and lived experiences to demystify the complexities of social connection and streamline its application for individuals and communities, offering practical strategies for organisations dedicated to enhancing wellbeing.

This symposium delivers actionable and innovative solutions to enhance social connectedness. Key focus areas include exploring digital social connections, developing effective measures for social connection, and co-designing community-specific resources to bolster social ties. The program includes three 15-minute presentations aligned with the overarching conference theme and a 30-minute interactive Q&A session. This format encourages a dynamic exchange of ideas, fostering an engaging dialogue on strategies to advance social connection across communities.

Paper 1: Hybrid Social Connections: Digital Tools for Wellbeing

Social connection extends beyond simple interpersonal interactions and embodies a spectrum of relationships within one's social context. This landscape becomes more intricate with the increasing reliance on digital tools for navigating sociality. Informed by Farmer et al. (2021), our model reveals nuanced layers of relationships, from close familial bonds to broader community ties fundamental to individual wellbeing, belonging, and collective achievement.

This presentation examines 'hybrid social connections,' integrating digital and face-to-face encounters and assessing their impact on mental health and wellbeing. Challenging the digital versus physical connectivity views, it shows how digital tools with in-person interactions enhance social ties and overall wellbeing (Hall et al., 2022). Blending online and offline socialisation supports mental health by fostering inclusivity and reducing isolation (Chan, 2014). However, it recognises potential challenges like the role of digital media in potentially displacing face-to-face interactions (Nowland et al., 2018). Drawing on interviews with residents in Melbourne’s outer metropolitan areas, this research enriches our understanding of social connection by promoting a blend of digital tools and conventional care models. It advocates for digital platforms to augment in-person connections, not replace them, highlighting their role in improving mental health across diverse communities, and urges practitioners to create complementary digital strategies.

Paper 2: Social Connection Measurement

Social connection is a well-articulated concept, but we lack a consistent and empirically supported set of measures to assess it. Current forms of social connection measurement are often deficit-focused, stigmatising, or do not adequately provide a multidimensional approach consistent with conceptualisations from industry and existing research (e.g., Holt-Lunstad et al., 2017; Townsend & McWhirter, 2005). Deploying consistent and robust measurement is critical to better understand how social connections are structured and what outcomes can occur. Our work leverages existing frameworks and scales to address gaps to develop a multidimensional strengths-based social connection measurement aligning with evidence and stakeholder conceptualisation. Developing and providing a measurement toolkit will provide an economical and empirically driven assessment relevant to academics and practitioners.

This presentation will address the development and validation of the measurement through multiple data collections with representative Australian national and state-based samples. It will report on internal validity, reliability, and the measurement's relationship (and individual components) with outcomes, including wellbeing and resilience. It will conclude with a comparison to existing measures, including established scales for loneliness, highlighting the tool's multidimensional nature and direct link to wellbeing.

Paper 3: Co-design for Social Connection and Community Wellbeing

Neami has a longstanding commitment to supporting individuals facing mental health challenges to develop connections meaningful to them. In line with this mission, Neami is co-designing a resource to enhance social connections within local practices. A prime example is the Whittlesea Mental Health and Wellbeing Local (MHWL) service in the City of Whittlesea, leveraging strong relationships between service users, community members, and our team to foster collaboration.

Using the Collaborative Relational Practice (CRP) methodology – emphasising the importance of close cooperation with diverse stakeholders – this effort sought to forge relationships, identify priorities, generate innovative ideas, and plan the next steps. We then tested these solutions in practice.

The process included workshops, surveys, and individual consultations. Our goals were to:
• Understand Link workers and the MHWL service's role in fostering social connections.
• Identify ways to improve mental health services and staff promote social connections.
• Create and assess a resource to help staff and services support the social connections of the people they assist.

This presentation will outline our journey, sharing the obstacles and insights we gained and demonstrating how our collaborative efforts resulted in positive and sometimes unexpected outcomes in tackling complex social challenges.