the lonely diplomat
evolved into
HUMANS:CONNECTING
the lonely diplomat began with my own experience of loneliness.
I started writing about what it was like to feel lonely while living and working overseas as an Australian diplomat and an accompanying significant other.
Over time, those stories became conversations about belonging, relationships, identity, transitions and what it means to feel meaningfully connected to ourselves and the world around us.
The more I explored social connection and loneliness, the more I realised the conversation was much, much bigger than diplomatic life.
The questions I was asking applied to all humans.
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How do we create and sustain meaningful connection?
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What gets in the way?
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What happens when the relationships, communities, workplaces and systems around us don't support the connection we need?
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What can we do about it?
Those questions eventually led the lonely diplomat to evolve into HUMANS:CONNECTING.
Today, HUMANS:CONNECTING works with individuals, workplaces, communities and systems to strengthen meaningful human connection and social health.
Our work has grown considerably, but its roots remain in the conversations that began through the lonely diplomat.
The name changed. The size of the conversation grew.
The purpose remains deeply connected to how it began.
WHERE WOULD YOU
LIKE TO GO NEXT?
Choose your path into HUMANS:CONNECTING
Blog
Keep exploring ideas about meaningful connection, social health, loneliness and relational infrastructure.
Zero-cost resources
Practical tools and resources to help you understand meaningful connection, social health and loneliness.
Connection Starter Course
Know what meaningful connection is for you and take practical steps to strengthen it through your own connection plan.
Midlife Connection Hub
You're navigating the changes in relationships, identity, purpose and belonging that can come with midlife, and want to strengthen the connections that matter to you.
CREATING CONNECTED WORKPLACES
Bring the science of connection into your workplace.
Creating Connected Workplaces brings together the expertise of HUMANS:CONNECTING, Annecy Behavioral Science Lab and Entrelacs to help organisations strengthen the relationships and conditions that enable people to connect, communicate, collaborate and belong at work.
Together, we bring international expertise and leading research in social health, meaningful connection, loneliness and workplace relationships into a practical, evidence-informed approach to understanding and strengthening your organisation's relational infrastructure.
Explore creating connected workplaces
SPEAKING
Bring a global authority on human connection, loneliness and relational infrastructure into the conversation.
Phil McAuliffe is an international speaker, former Australian diplomat and Board Chair of the Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection. His work on loneliness, social health and meaningful connection has taken him from the TEDx stage to international conferences and media including the BBC World Service, Australian media and film production companies.
Drawing on lived experience, evidence and more than two decades working across cultures, governments and communities around the world, Phil challenges audiences to think differently about the relationships and conditions that shape our lives, workplaces and societies.
Bring Phil into your next event and start a conversation that continues long after the room empties.
ABOUT H:C
HUMANS:CONNECTING is a social enterprise working to strengthen the relational infrastructure that enables people to feel meaningfully connected to each other, their communities and the institutions and systems around them.
We work across four interconnected areas:
Individuals | Workplaces | Communities | Systems
Through education, consulting, speaking, resources, collaboration and thought leadership, we're helping put meaningful human connection and social health at the centre of how we think about healthy people, organisations and societies.
Discover more about HUMANS:CONNECTING
RETURN TO
THE LONELY DIPLOMAT
the lonely diplomat remains the spiritual home to the articles that started this work, exploring diplomatic life, loneliness, belonging, relationships, identity and meaningful connection.
They're an important part of the HUMANS:CONNECTING story, and they're still there for you to explore if you're wanting articles that serve, support, challenge and inspire you as you live your diplomatic life.
HUMANS:CONNECTING
We empower humans, workplaces, communities and systems to prioritise meaningful connection, recognise loneliness, and respond in ways that strengthen connections instead of deepening disconnection.