On March 5th, Bournemouth University held a University Mental Health Day, I attended a Young Adult Loneliness Panel hosted by Conversation Starter. I was there representing Space Youth Project sitting alongside with these brilliant organisations; Time to Change, Samaritans, and Dorset Mind! We were each asked questions about how loneliness occurs in young adults, how you can spot it within friends or family, how to help each other out with it, and shared some of our experiences with how to deal with isolation.
I spoke about how loneliness can affect LGBTQ+ youth within the school system, and my own personal story with being home-schooled while having no LGBTQ+ community or support system around me. I also brought to light the difficulties of being a disabled or chronically ill student, as it is often overlooked by organisations which can lead to intense isolation for non-able bodied students. The reception of my answers was well received and even had a few students talk to me about their stories after the panel.
This panel was recorded live and will hopefully be uploaded online by the podcast Conversation Starter, where everyone can easily listen to it.
Conversation Starter is an upcoming mini-podcast series that is set to be launching this spring, and will be breaking the stigma around young adult loneliness!
You can learn more about them here: https://www.instagram.com/converstarteruk/?hl=en
- Written by Lydia F