wellness
Social Connection as Medicine: The Loneliness Epidemic Hits Home in High Park
In an era of rising mental health challenges, community groups in High Park are turning social connection into powerful medicine.
How we reported this
Loneliness has been declared a public health issue from Westminster to Washington, but in Toronto’s High Park neighbourhood, local groups and venues are making a concerted push to turn strangers into neighbours-and boost residents’ mental wellbeing in the process.
Why Loneliness is a 2026 Priority
Social isolation has shot up global health agendas ever since the pandemic cut people off from their daily routines. But the numbers haven’t bounced back: a 2024 Statistics Canada report found that more than 1 in 10 adults in Ontario said they often or always feel lonely, with those figures rising among people living alone and young adults in urban neighbourhoods. With social ties shrinking, mental health clinics on Bloor Street West have reported a steady uptick in requests for counselling focused on anxiety and depression tied to isolation-making the case for action increasingly urgent.
High Park’s leafy trails are famous citywide as a magnet for joggers and dog walkers, but a thriving network of organizations and public spaces is now actively targeting loneliness. Friends of High Park, a volunteer-run non-profit, recently doubled its summer guided walks schedule, with more than 20 free outings on weekends this July, starting at the Grenadier Café in the park’s centre. Local libraries, including the Toronto Public Library’s High Park branch on Roncesvalles Avenue, have added weekly social circles and chess afternoons alongside their adult learning workshops, creating safe, pressure-free spaces for newcomers and long-timers alike to make new connections. In June, the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC), a few blocks east on Queen Street West, piloted an afternoon drop-in group that’s already at capacity.
The Price of Disconnection-and Local Solutions
Recent figures from the Canadian Mental Health Association peg social isolation as a risk factor rivaling obesity and smoking, with lonely individuals 50% more likely to die prematurely, according to a widely-cited Stanford and Brigham Young University meta-analysis published in 2015. Locally, the City of Toronto’s 2025 Community Wellbeing Survey noted that only 42% of respondents in the west end-including High Park-felt they had someone outside their household they could rely on in a crisis.
Groups like Good Neighbours Toronto, running free meet-and-greet potlucks at Lithuanian House on Bloor, aim to strengthen those vital ties. Seniors and young professionals alike can reserve a spot by emailing the group-a detail included on their website-with no charge to attend. Meanwhile, St. Joe’s Urban Farm on Sunnyside Avenue has seen record sign-ups for its weekly gardening circles, where the price of admission is a willingness to chat and share in harvesting lettuce and tomatoes.
For High Park residents looking to take the first step beyond their front door, there’s a growing menu of low-cost or free opportunities: hiking meetups from the High Park Nature Centre, book clubs at the TPL High Park branch, and volunteer tree-planting days with the City’s Urban Forestry unit. As loneliness continues to carry concrete health risks, community and social groups are making it their mission to rebuild Toronto’s urban village, one new friend at a time.