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Felt isolated and targeted at pool

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It sounds like you’re trying to balance a lot of different feelings - understanding why your friend might have said what he did, wondering if the laughter was directed at you, and even considering what your counsellor said about where to put your energy. With all that in mind, it’s natural to feel uncertain about how to respond. You mentioned feeling ignored and struggling to reach out to others for support, and that can be incredibly tough.
Would it help to explore what’s making this situation stick with you? Or maybe talk about how you feel about opening up to your friend or even others in your life? No matter what, your feelings are valid, and we're here to listen.
^Just picking up on this too - we're sorry your thread didn't get a response until now. We can see it's been a busy time on the boards and this can sometimes result in threads getting missed. It's never intentional but this doesn't take away from how it made you feel, particularly when you've been having difficulty getting through to Shout too. We know that wait times can be longer at specific times of the day. I'll pop some other services below that you can always reach out to should you need some more support:
I totally heard your empathy for Shout and why you might not have got a response from other members of the community here too - you're right that I was reflecting the same sentiments back to you that you had already shared (that these things are never intentional). I certainly wasn't trying to suggest you hadn't thought of these things already - apologies if it came across that way. But it's valid for you to have felt the way you did.
I'm sorry that the pool group members disregarded your feelings and that the others in the group were talking and laughing when it happened. It also sounds really difficult to not really be acknowledged or shown interest in, within the group whenever you join. It sounds like when your friend joined, they did start showing interest and saying hello to you. You're right that these things can happen for many reasons - it could be that they were distracted like you said. But I also understand why you might consider other possibilities too. It's good to hear you have a member of staff that you can go to, to speak about it some more.
Please know you’re not alone in this, and your reflections and feelings are deeply valid. If you ever want to unpack more, we're here to listen.