The group will help design and support local projects that improve mental health, reduce loneliness, and build stronger, more welcoming communities.

Supported by the City of Greater Geelong, this group is especially for people who have experienced loneliness or social isolation and want to help make things better for others in similar situations.

SIAGs are a collaboration between State and Local Governments as a response to the Royal Commission into the Mental Health System.

Find out more about the background of SIAGS.

What does SIAG do?

SIAG is about listening, sharing experiences, and working together to create positive change. The group helps identify barriers to connection and belonging, provides advice on local initiatives, and supports actions that reduce loneliness and social isolation in Greater Geelong.

SIAG:

• Listens to community voices and lived experience. 
• Helps improve programs, services and projects.
• Builds members' skills, confidence and connections. 
• Works together to create a more inclusive and connected community.  
• Helps remove barriers to participation, including transport and childcare through the access enabler program. 
• Provides advice and feedback to Council and community organisations on issues that affect inclusion and wellbeing.

We've completed the Belonging in Geelong Needs Analysis. This important report helps us understand what contributes to loneliness and social isolation in Greater Geelong.

What has SIAG achieved so far?

Since launching in 2025, SIAG members have worked to identify barriers to connection and belonging, share lived experience insights and help shape local responses to loneliness and social isolation.

 SIAG has:

• Hosted a community forum to gather lived experience insights, identify barriers to connection, and strengthen understanding of what helps people feel they belong in Greater Geelong and completed the Belonging in Geelong Needs Analysis, bringing together local data, community stories and lived experience perspectives to better understand loneliness and belonging in Greater Geelong.
• Hosted a community event to share findings from the Belonging in Geelong Needs Analysis, bringing together local community members, organisations and stakeholders to explore opportunities for collective action on loneliness and social isolation.
• Launched the SIAG Youth Connection Project, supporting young people to share their experiences of connection, belonging and loneliness, and helping ensure youth voices inform future community responses.
• Established the Access Enabler Payments Program, helping community organisations remove barriers to participation and create opportunities for connection and approved funding for 15 organisations, with more than $31,000 invested in practical supports such as transport, childcare, accessibility supports, outreach and inclusive community programs. 
• Provided advice and feedback on local initiatives that support inclusion, participation, connection and community wellbeing across Greater Geelong.
• Supported Wathaurong’s Youth Justice Connection Project at their Booln Booln site. SIAG supplied, tools, workshop supplies and 2x converted shipping containers to create a safe and welcoming space for young people to strengthen connections with culture, peers, and community through culturally- led activities and positive hands-on experiences.

Belonging in Geelong Needs Analysis

We have completed the Belonging in Geelong Needs Analysis, helping us better understand loneliness, social isolation and connection across Greater Geelong.

How we created the report:

• We used data from the Geelong Preventative Health Survey.
• We listened to stories and ideas from around 50 people at the 2025 Loneliness Forum, facilitated by Friends for Good.
• We combined local data with lived experience and community insights.

What we found:

• 25% of Geelong residents report feeling lonely.
• Some groups experience much higher rates of loneliness, including young people, people with disability and single parents.
• Barriers such as transport, cost and discrimination can make it harder to connect.
• We also identified many community strengths, programs and opportunities that support belonging.

How we'll use this data: The report gives SIAG and our partners evidence to advocate for more inclusive communities, influence planning and decision-making, and support actions that help more people feel connected, welcome and valued in Greater Geelong.