General News
19 February, 2026
Why saying hello still matters in a small town
IN an increasingly connected world, loneliness remains a growing concern, particularly in regional communities. A World Health Organisation study released in 2025 examined social isolation across age groups, finding that between 17 and 21 per cent of people aged 13 to 29 reported feeling lonely.
While data on social isolation is more limited, it is estimated to affect up to one in three older adults and one in four adolescents.
The study also found that teenagers who felt lonely were 22 per cent more likely to achieve lower grades or qualifications.
Grappling with these figures, questions remain about how people can feel more connected in everyday life.
Carly McKinnis from Ararat’s One Red Tree believes the answer may be simpler than expected.
She said the region faces significant challenges, including some of the highest rates of family violence, suicide, and emergency department presentations for mental health.
“While I think we absolutely need to have services here in a clinic, that only serves one kind of part of the community,” she said.
“It’s about, how do we get people to feel more connected and less lonely.”
Ms McKinnis said anxiety around initiating conversations increased significantly during COVID, making it harder for people to reach out.
“When we’re feeling lonely ourselves, going and helping someone else or initiating one of those conversations can help,” she said.
She also highlighted the value of peer counselling programs in schools, allowing young people to speak openly with each other.
“When you talk about it, when you share it, people care,” she said. “Then there’s an opportunity for people to support you.”
Ms McKinnis said mental health support in rural areas is often framed around the need for more psychologists, a need she agrees with, but believes the way those services are delivered also matters.
“I think it’s about using psychologists in a different way as well.”
She said embedding support into workplaces, community groups, sporting clubs and everyday interactions could make a meaningful difference.
She said many have lost a lot of the incidental supports when people stopped connecting with their neighbours or having footpath chats.
“We lost a lot of those incidental conversations,” she said.
Ms McKinnis said simple, everyday interactions play a powerful role in creating a sense of belonging.
“The things that just happen, like this morning when I got my coffee from the Mess and Barracks, and I had a chat to a grandfather about their grandkids playing basketball on the weekend, and somebody else who was walking past about something else. (It’s) those incidental conversations make people feel connected and part of a community,” she said.
She said small gestures, such as stopping for a chat or sharing a cup of tea with a neighbour, can be just as valuable as formal professional support.
“It’s about getting people to understand that sometimes it’s just listening,” she said.
“They don’t have to problem solve. I think that’s sometimes worth more than all the other very structured professional help. One of our basic needs is to have a sense of belonging and connectedness.”
Ms McKinnis said this sense of connection is vital to mental health, and is strengthened when people feel able to be open and vulnerable.
“Vulnerability isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength, because most other people are feeling like that,” she said.
“It can be 10 minutes. It doesn’t have to be an hour,” she said.
Every small step and simple conversation is a stepping stone to bridging the gap within the fabric of the community to better support everyone within it.
Read More: Ararat