Research: Social Isolation

Research: Joyce Vincent - Dreams of a life

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dreams-of-a-life/4od

Joyce Carol Vincent was a Londoner of Caribbean and Indian decent. She died in 2003 in her bedsit in Wood Green and her body lay undiscovered until 25th January 2006 even though her neighbours did smell her decomposing body. 

 Upon the discovery of her body, details were extremely 'hushed up' as not even her photograph or any background to her life was mentioned in articles.
 The case of Joyce Vincent is an example of social isolation, a complete or near complete lack of contact with society. Channel 4'd documentary on her life before her death revealed her secrecy and lack of contact with her small group of friends and her family.

Similarly, the death of Michelle Conroy (21 years old) has direct links to Joyce Vincent's death as they both seemed to be victims of social isolation. Michelle Conroy was found dead after a tree fell on her tent whilst she was sleeping rough in Exeter. Michelle was often described as locals as "a lonely soul, with a sad, broken childhood who couldn't sustain an independent life". Like Joyce Vincent, Michelle Conroy spent time "sofa surfing": the invisible homeless person staying with friends when they can, maintaining human connections and temporary shelter. Michelle and Joyce both lived in poor conditions, Michelle was homeless and Joyce lived in council housing as depicted in 4OD's documentary "Dreams of a life". Similarly enough, they both had very little money yet their appearance never seemed to be at fault  "Michelle has been coming to us for over a year. She was a lovely, polite girl, always well turned out with her hair brushed back in a ponytail. You wouldn't know she was homeless if you bumped into her." Rev Canon Anna Norman - Walker. Joyce Vincent was too always pristinely presented, therefore unlikely for anyone to have known of her isolation. Many critics link Joyce and Michelle's deaths with their housing and the isolation that it brought unto them. Joyce lived in a council flat alone, after "sofa surfing" for 6 months at an ex-boyfriends house. Michelle Conroy lived alone but the only difference being that she was homeless - she lived in shelters and was found dead in her own tent after sleeping rough in Exeter, after a tree fell. Both individuals isolated their selves to an extent, either due to a darkened childhood as discussed in 'Dreams of a life' or just pure social isolation such as Michelle Conroy. It was discussed that Joyce Vincent was left scarred after her mothers death when she was younger leaving her in the hands of her father who was illustrated as a rather irresponsible character, thus leaving Joyce to be raised by her older sisters, who remained anonymous for the documentary. Joyce was said to be of a 'secretive' nature, allowing others to find it hard to obtain information of her whereabouts or her early life. Her ex-boyfriend Garry Crystal allowed her stay with him for 6 moths after losing contact with Joyce for many years - upon her stay he noticed that she had multiple bruises that signified an abusive relationship that she may have had or may have been having at the time.

Today, we still deal with the risk that social isolation creates: "Social isolation is associates with a higher risk of death in older people regardless of whether they consider themselves lonely," BBC News have reported. Evidently, social isolation affects all no matter the age, gender or background. 2013 has seen a 26% increase in social isolation and the last 15 years has seen a 50% increase.