Drop in sessions help young man make new friends
Overview
16 year old Caleb* suffered from extreme social anxiety and found it very difficult to make friends. He found being in large groups of people very draining and often had to sleep afterwards to recharge. He would frequently miss college as he needed to recharge after each emotional experience.
Caleb began to stay home more often and rarely go out, impacting his confidence and self-esteem. Where he had previously attended extracurricular activities at college, he found that managing his anxiety in these situations became so overwhelming that he could no longer attend.
Response
Caleb was referred by his parents to several Youth Mental Health drop-in sessions at Alchemy Youth, a service run by Sefton charity Parenting 2000 that helps young people face the challenges of everyday life. There, a youth mentor supported him to set himself goals including:
- To develop more confidence with friends and in his relationships
- To set small goals to re-engage with his course at college
- To work towards having a hobby outside of online gaming
- To engage in wellbeing half term activities to take him out of his comfort zone
He has been meeting with a youth mentor at a weekly drop-in session to pursue these goals, which has already been a marked improvement as a regular interaction outside of his home.
Outcomes
Caleb has been regularly engaging with youth mentors, opening up a lot more and feeding back on how beneficial he finds their support. He has made progress towards his four goals by attending college more regularly, demonstrating an increase in confidence by slowly making new friends, allowing himself to laugh more and not feel pressure to be ‘perfect’.
*Name changed for anonymity
Parenting 2000 