Every Thursday afternoon at a community centre in Calgary, staff set out tea and coffee and welcome dozens of seniors for an hour of music, snacks and conversations.
The weekly event is “an explosion of happiness,” said Jeannette Provo, executive director of The Confederation Park 55+ Activity Centre, which has run the Tea and Conversations program for 48 years.
Participants might leave the centre smiling, but that is not how many of them first come to it. Many join out of loneliness. Many are widowed or new to the area. For others, the outing is their only social activity of the week.
The program is a staple at the centre and in its participants’ lives — with some having attended it since it first began.
According to a new report by a national mental health organization, the weekly gathering is also a model of how community organizations can reduce social isolation among older adults.
“Meaningful action often begins with small, intentional acts: a better question, a personal invitation, a practical adjustment, a supported referral, or a moment of genuine presence,” the report from the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health says.
“These actions may appear simple, but … they can profoundly change how an older adult experiences their day, their care and their place in the world.”
Clinical guidelines
Social isolation refers to individuals having few connections with others.
Social isolation differs from loneliness, which occurs when someone feels their existing social relationships are not adequate. A person may have strong social connections and still feel lonely or have few social connections and not report loneliness.
Researchers and health-care professionals continue to explore the impact of social isolation, but it is known to increase risk of dementia, heart disease, stroke, functional decline and death in adults over 50.
It is also known that many Canadian older adults struggle to find social connections.
In a 2025 survey from the National Institute on Ageing, only a third of adults over 50 reported participating in weekly social or recreational activities. About a quarter reported never participating in any activities at all.
In 2024, the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health produced clinical guidelines for addressing social isolation and loneliness in older adults.
According to Bette Watson-Borg, the coalition’s program manager for social isolation and loneliness, these are the first clinical guidelines on this topic in the world.
“It was breaking ground,” she said of the process of researching and writing the guidelines.
‘Can happen anywhere’
The guidelines include recommendations for identifying and responding to social isolation and loneliness in older adults. These include asking targeted questions in medical assessments and encouraging therapy or social participation.
The coalition’s new report, called 94 Voices, provides examples from across Canada that demonstrate these clinical guidelines in practice.
It describes men at a rural Saskatchewan apartment building gathering at a Men’s Shed — a place where men come to learn new skills, build things and form relationships.
It describes a recreation therapist in Nova Scotia helping a socially isolated man find books related to his hobbies at the local library.
It cites the example of a social worker at an Ontario long-term care home using social media and genealogical websites to help a woman with amnesia reconstruct her identity.
For Watson-Borg, these stories highlight how various professions can help alleviate social isolation and loneliness.
“[Social health] can happen anywhere and everywhere,” she said, noting activities outside a medical facility are just as important as those involving doctors and nurses.
The report’s examples also highlight how older adults are often socially isolated because of unaddressed barriers, such as hearing or vision loss, mobility challenges or cost.
“Social isolation and loneliness are not simply the result of an older adult ‘not wanting’ to participate,” the report says.
“The stories repeatedly showed that social connection is not only about being included; it is also about feeling useful, valued, and able to contribute.”
The staff who run Tea and Connections in Calgary see this frequently.
Debbie Nay, the program’s co-ordinator, interviews older adults interested in joining to learn their reasons for attending. Nay then assigns newcomers seats based on whom she thinks they will enjoy meeting.
But seating arrangements are just one way staff meet participants’ needs.
Staff have helped participants leave situations of elder abuse. They give food hampers to those who need them, and pay for taxis for those who cannot afford transportation. A pharmacist runs a monthly blood pressure clinic during Tea and Conversations and has sent individuals to their doctors for urgent care.
The program has a cost: the centre spends about $46,000 a year on food and drinks, musicians and staff, and transport costs.
But these costs pale in comparison to the reward of watching older adults recognize their worth as people.
“They need to feel valued,” said Provo, the executive director.
“We actually view these people as part of our family.”
