Lived Experience Forum

[Lilyq]

I am a stay at home mum with 2 children 1 in childcare 4 days a week and 1 at school so I am alone a lot of the time. I used to go to a mental health support service that shut down, now I feel isolated and alone during the day. How does everyone else cope during the day when friends and family have jobs?

It seems a tough road when you have a mental illness with nothing to do.

[Zoe7]

Hi @Lilyq and welcome firstly to the forum 

Part of the feeling isolated and lonely is not connecting with people. You have made a good step forward with this by joining the forum. There are many people here who feel the same as you do but we also support each other to feel more connected and less alone.

What kind of things do you like to do?

There are many threads on here where members discuss, create and share things they are doing - whether it be sport, craft, art or their love of cats (just to name a few).

Also are there any other groups in your area that you can join or somewhere you can volunteer a couple of days a week - maybe your child's school needs volunteers. 

Have a look around the forum and if you have any questions then tag me and I will see if I can help you out.

Once again - welcome to the forum and I hope you find it a supportive, caring and compasionate community to be part of.

Zoe 

[Lilyq]

Thank you for welcoming me to the forum I enjoy movies, spending time with family, my cat and dog, cooking and going to the gym (when I can get the motivation).
I will definitely look into volunteering thanks for the tips.

[Zoe7]

I have a cat and a dog too @Lilyq - I talk about them here quite a lot lol - My dog's name is Toby and my cat I just call Cat on here as her name is unusual  

Every Friday night we have Friday Feast from around 7-9pm - it is where members share a virtual meal and chat - maybe you could share some of the things you like to cook one Friday night 

I am not a huge movie watcher - can't concentrate for that long lol  What kind of movies do you like?

[Lilyq]

I like all sorts of movies ranging from Chick flicks to thrillers to political dramas.

My cat is called Lily and my dog is called Ginger. Friday night feast sounds fun I will definitely stick around for that.

[Zoe7]

Friday Feast can be a lot of fun @Lilyq - there is often a theme or a destination that we virtually go to -last week was a spooky/Transilvainia theme for Friday 13th - you can check out a bit more here 

What kind of dog do you have - I have a maltese shih tzu - a little white fluffball lol

[Lilyq]

That sounds like fun I checked it out and the food looks yummy. I will definitely come next Friday. My dog is a poodle and my cat is called Ginger

[Zoe7]

Have you checked out some of the other threads @Lilyq - I can usually be found on this thread - I will tag you from there also...