Poem: Dear Grandad

Emily Kelly's response to Exposure's film ‘Message to Sweet Pea'

Dear Grandad
I understand your worries
Your fears I might be lost
In a room that may be full of people
And still yet I remained boxed.
Oppressed by worries of failure
Fears of rejection – I hide away
And this very isolation
The thing that scares you most
Terrifies me to my core.

But this loneliness lives in my bones
It’s made a home within me
And its time for it to go
You’ve reached inside and knocked on the door
And it’s opened up in hope
I’d be there to feed it
With my self-doubt and deprecation.

But little does it know
You’ve reached inside me too
And shown me I’m not alone.

With funding from John Lyon’s Charity, Exposure worked with students from North London over three months to develop creative responses to youth loneliness.

A study shows that social isolation can cause ‘a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day.’

National Statistics show that almost 10% of young people aged 16 to 24 were always or often lonely – the highest proportion of any age group in the country.

According to a recent report by Acevo, nearly half of young people in the UK often feel lonely. This compares to only a quarter of over 65s.

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