Best Of

Just wanted to add and say I'm also very glad you're here with us Chloe.

It might be a good idea to see if you can get referred to CAMHS if you think it can give you the support you need - it's definitely worth trying and seeing what comes from it.

I know it's hard having lost the school support since leaving - it's a major change where you ultimately feel on your own again.

As for distractions, is there anything new that you're interested in trying or doing that you haven't done so far that could be accessible to you and easy to do? - it doesn't have to be anything big, just something that can take your mind of things for a bit.

Remember you can come to us on here whenever you need to and we all love you and value you as a member of the community.

Sending you a big hug
Sinead

I was terrified of starting university - I was scared I wouldn’t fit in or find anyone I liked But trust me when I say your find your peoples, you truly do.

My first few months I found it hard , I didn’t really know what to do or how to make friends and then I discovered the Neurodiverse society and the LGBTQ society. That’s where I found my people and that’s what helped me get through my Uni.

Maybe have alook at what societies your uni has before freshers fair - your be suprised on that’s there is literally one for everything … ours even had a Taylor swift society 😂

AnonymousToe wrote: »

Another thing, I was bullied in primary school, and that experience taught me to hide everything about myself and just pretend to be like everyone else. Do I need to do that at uni?? Because it’s kind of impossible to be true friends with someone when you’re literally a fake person with them. It’s exhausting too. I dont know if that sounds horrible, but I just mean I pretend to be interested in the same things they are, so they’ll accept me..

Also! Having a weird interest or thing about you is quite a good thing in more adult spaces. It helps separate you from other people and gives them a reason to be curious about you.

Just wanted to echo both of these responses ^ uni is a different ball game to school, and people are a lot more accepting and mature about this stuff (generally speaking)

I'm almost 30 now but, if it helps, the best way I've found to make friends as an adult is to spend time around people wherever you can. I think sometimes there's a misconception that what you say or how you behave is what decides whether you make friends, but in my experience it's overwhelmingly just the amount of exposure you have to other people.

That might be cooking when you know someone else will be in the kitchen, working in a shared space - you don't even need to speak to anyone at first. You could have your headphones on the whole time and then build up to more social interactions once they feel familiar to you.

Over time people get more comfy with each other and conversations come out more naturally, and then you can build connections quite organically from that point.

A bit like @JJLemon18 said with the autism group - being in a space with people but not necessarily feeling a pressure to engage, contribute or 'be' a particular person. If you give yourself plenty of opportunities to connect with people, eventually you will.