ABC Connect Well, Live Well Network

ABC Connect Well, Live Well Network has over 90 member organisations. The Network meets throughout the year, both virtually and face to face, providing opportunities for members to share information, resources and learning that will help us to meet loneliness together and to promote opportunities for connectedness.

The ABC Connect Well Live Well Network promotes connectedness to improve health and wellbeing across the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council area.  We work to address the root causes of loneliness through the promotion of meaningful social, emotional and community connections, empowering individuals and communities to thrive and to meet loneliness together.

If your group or organisation is interested in membership, please scan the QR code below and complete the online form. Alternatively, please click here to complete the online form.

Every few months we aim to showcase a project that has demonstrated the power of connections. We will share these projects to demonstrate what has worked well, in the hope that we will learn from each other and create a community for learning together.

Featured project: Connect 65+, Connecting the Community, Laurencetown, Lenaderg, Tullylish Community Association (LLTCA)

Connecting the Community (Connect 65+) supports the over 65s who may feel lonely or socially isolated to keep connected with the support of a great team of volunteers. Together we offer:

• Befriending – a volunteer will meet the older person in their home or go out and about for a walk, cuppa etc. This normally happens a couple of times a month for a couple of hours
• Time out for Older Carers – volunteers support older carers by staying with the person being cared for, so they can have some time for themselves.
• Technology support – offering 1-1 support with smartphone, tablet, laptop etc which helps older people keep connected in this digital world.

The service is free and referrals can be made by friends, family, self and through a range of organisations. We also providing signposting to other relevant groups and services.

The Prevention Role

Our service contributes to prevention in the following ways:

• Supporting independent living
• Strengthening neighbourhood connections
• Supporting carers
• Building resilience and wellbeing
• Tackle digital exclusion

How does our service prevent issues from escalating?

When people are not connected in the community, they can often feel isolated and lonely. Issues such as illness, reduced mobility and reduced friend and family networks make older people more likely to be affected. Through our staff, community centre and volunteers, we aim to keep people connected by giving them the opportunity to engage on both a 1-1 and group basis. One example is a volunteer connecting up with them every few weeks for a few hours and encouraging them to take up other opportunities to connect inside and outside of the home. Our trained volunteers love connecting with our seniors and it is evident they both gain a lot from the experience. Feeling valued as an older person is critical to their wellbeing. Being trustworthy and reliable are core to what we do.

Number of people supported

Our initial programme resulted in the following:

• 33 local people availing of the befriending service
• 12 people availing of the “Time Out for Carers” service
• 50 people availing of IT Support
• 320 contacts signposted to other agencies
• 73 people availing of LLTCA’s wider social inclusion activities
• Partnership working with 20 local organisations

Number of contacts / sessions delivered

• Over 900 befriending visits
• Over 190 Time out for Carers sessions
• Over 220 IT 1-1 sessions

Other measurable outcomes

SROI – for every £1 invested there was a social and economic returned of £3.22.

Case Study: Early Intervention in practice

Sally (*name changed to protect identity) has mobility problems and lives by herself in a small house, but really enjoys company. She is a chatty person and lives with a range of health issues and is often in a lot of pain.

Sally feels very lonely and frequently mentions this. The loss of her husband and changing family circumstances has also exacerbated her feelings of loneliness and isolation.

What action did your service take?

Through the Connect 65+ project, we offered our befriending support, which encouraged Sally to access older people’s groups at the Community Centre and also connect to rural transport scheme. Alongside this, we checked in with Sally on a regular basis.

What changed as a result?

Sally is now actively getting out of the house and taking part in activities, which has ultimately improved her social wellbeing. She loves the chat in the house as well and having a volunteer to visit on a regular basis has really helped her. It also helps her keep engaged and interested in the world around her.

How did this prevent escalation or improve wellbeing?

Meeting/seeing her at LLTCA centre, keeping in touch on the phone and the befriending service have really helped her see life more positively and to overcome barriers as to how she can keep connected, feel valued and overcome grief. Sally still has the same health issues but knows the importance of looking after her mental health as well.

Connect 65+ reflects the principles of Connect Well Live Well by:

• Addressing social isolation and reducing loneliness
• Promoting the early detection of health issues
• Enhancing community-focused preventive support
• Supporting individuals to live independently at home for longer
• Fostering partnership working across statutory and community sectors

For further information or to contact the Connect 65+ service, please call Sharon or Nicki on 028 4062 3770 or email

Featured project: Good Morning Service

Prevention in action – supporting independence through connection

A simple daily phone call can be a powerful form of early intervention. The Good Morning Service is a free, confidential outbound telephone support service for older people and older carers aged 60+ across the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon and Newry and Mourne council areas.

Funded by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust and the ABC Policing and Community Safety Partnership, the service plays an important preventative role in reducing loneliness, supporting well-being and enabling older residents to live safely and independently at home.

Strengthening prevention at neighbourhood level

The service provides consistent, trusted contact — often identifying concerns at the earliest stage and before they escalate into crisis. Between October and December 2025:

• 9,598 calls were made to older residents in the ABC area
• 9,052 calls were made across Newry & Mourne
• Over 300 supportive contacts per day, strengthening connection and oversight

These calls are not simply check-ins — they are part of a wider preventative approach that supports early identification of risk, promotes independence and reduces avoidable hospital admissions.

Case study: early intervention in practice

In January 2026, during a routine call, a service user mentioned feeling dizzy and unsteady. The volunteer alerted the coordinator, who followed safeguarding protocols and contacted the individual directly. It emerged she had experienced several recent falls. With her emergency contact unable to assist, the service coordinated with hospital services to ensure she was assessed promptly. A recent medication change was found to be affecting her balance and was subsequently amended. During recovery, her call schedule was increased to provide enhanced monitoring and reassurance.

This intervention demonstrates how low-level, preventative support can lead to timely escalation when required — helping to prevent further harm and supporting safe return home.

The Good Morning Service reflects the principles of Connect Well Live Well by:

• Reducing social isolation and loneliness
• Supporting early identification of health concerns
• Strengthening community-based prevention
• Enabling people to remain independent in their own homes
• Working in partnership across statutory and community services

Through trusted daily connection, the service strengthens resilience at individual and neighbourhood level — demonstrating how prevention-focused community support contributes to safer, healthier ageing.

For further information or to make a referral for the Good Morning Service, please contact Conor Keenan or Pat Quinn on 028 3026 1022 or click the referral button below.

We have teamed up with the Verve Healthy Living Network to deliver Chatty Walks across the Borough.  Chatty Walks help us stay active and connected, boosting both physical and mental well-being.

To find out more about local chatty walks, visit Be Active Programmes – Verve Healthy Living Network 

If you want to start a chatty walk in your area, we can support you with training and getting your walk started. Please contact us

Seven brightly painted ‘Chatty Benches’ have been installed in a number of our parks across the borough to help bring people together, thanks to a partnership between Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and the ABC Loneliness Network.

The aim of the Chatty Benches are to help reduce loneliness and isolation by providing an opportunity for people to sit down have a chat and stay connected.

Painted bright yellow the Chatty Benches also have a QR Code that takes users to online mental health support resources, offering a range of useful information on looking after our mental and emotional wellbeing.

The Chatty Benches are located in the following Parks:

• Dromore Park
• Edenvilla Park
• Loughgall Country Park
• Lurgan Park
• Solitude Park
• Tannaghmore Gardens
• The Palace Demesne, Armagh

The Kindness Post Box brings little bursts of happiness to those most at risk of loneliness or isolation within our communities. Since 2021 we have been partnering with local schools, businesses, youth and community groups to gather letters, poems and drawings from children and young people across the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon area, bringing little packages of joy to older residents who are isolated or those living in residential care and nursing homes.

If your school, youth or community group would like to be involved in the Kindness Post Box, please click on the link below and complete the form.

Over the last few years we’ve come to understand what loneliness can feel like more than ever before and whilst we’re seeing an increase in people talking about it, we feel the stigma remains and there are a lot of challenges we still face.

This awareness training is for anyone who is providing services to people in the community, but can also be used with your friends and family and the people you work with.  You will learn what is meant by Loneliness and Social Isolation, what the life events or triggers are that often cause loneliness and understand the impact on our health and wellbeing.  We will also cover how to address the stigma around loneliness and discuss how to have positive, meaningful and empathetic conversations using our Talking Tips guide.

Coming soon!

A connector can be anyone in your community! They will play an essential role in passing knowledge and understanding within communities, in the simplest of day-to-day interactions. Information may be available and for some can be easy to access and understand, but for others it may be too diffuse, too overwhelming, difficult to access or seemly hidden. So now, more than ever, we need to take a lead from what happens naturally in communities and build on it.

Train anyone, anywhere to be a Connector. This short, flexible training is designed to empower the next wave of Connectors in our communities. The core purpose of Connectors in the community is to increase access to and knowledge about the huge amount of support and resources there are in their area. Imagine the impact if an entire community knew about all the support and opportunities, for themselves and others alike?

More information coming soon

More information coming soon