Listen Back: Young man travels Ireland help tackle loneliness. A young man from the UK who describes himself as a lost and lonely stranger; and was stranded in Australia because of the pandemic; has come up with a great idea to help with loneliness and isolation.
Jay Ventress decided to travel the world to help spread connection and break down the barriers of felling alone.
Jay posted his first letter on a traffic-light pole, walked away, then walked back to read the letter as if he was discovering it for the first time, imagining some other stranger who felt like him wrote it. Instantly he felt better.
Eventually other lonely strangers found Jay through his letters and they started to reach out to him. It's a story of reaching out, and a very postive one at that.
Jay traveled across Ireland last week to help tackle loneliness; and spoke in detail to Ronan Gargan about the idea and how he hopes to visit the region the next time he is in Ireland.