Hi everyone :)

KStout_135

Hi, I'm new here. I have spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. I am a counselor, helping people with disabilities. I have a very loving and supportive family. My faith is very important to me. I have been living in an apartment for two years. I have realized this comes with unforeseen challenges; like, it's isolating. Can anyone else relate? I'm hoping to make more friends. 

Tori_Scope

A warm welcome to the community from me too @KStout_135 It's great to have you with us! 

It's fantastic to hear that you're a counsellor who works with disabled people. That must be a really interesting job. What made you want to enter into that field?

I think many people can relate to feelings of isolation or loneliness, especially those who live alone. The pandemic has fed into this of course, too, as there's been less opportunity to socialise outside of the house.

I hope that you can connect with some likeminded people here on the community. You can see all of the categories of discussion we have here on the categories page, but you may be especially interested in our coffee lounge, CP category, and mental health and wellbeing categories. 

You may also like to visit our megathread for resources relating to reducing stress, isolation, and loneliness to get some ideas. 

Do you have any hobbies or interests? Have you tried attending any in-person social groups or events? I realise there could be a lot of barriers, including accessibility and coronavirus concerns, but putting yourself out there and meeting new people can be a good way of gaining confidence, whenever you feel comfortable doing so.

You may also be interested in attending Scope and CP Sport's CP Cafe (the link will just take you to some further information about the event, not the event itself- don't worry!). 

chiarieds

Hi @KStout_135 - & welcome to the community. Your job helping people with disabilities sounds wonderful. We have a lot of members with CP, & you might like to try the online CP cafe mentioned here: https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/73129/our-next-welcome-cafe-is-monday-31st-of-january-4pm-until-5-30pm/p1

I look forward to seeing you around the forum too.

iza

Hi @KStout_135, very warm welcome from me, it is nice you joined Scope's online community. 

It is true that living in the flat can cause the feeling of isolation especially during the pandemic time. 
If you are looking for connection with others this platform here is a good start point.

The other opportunity to increase the chances to feel less isolated is meet up platform or meet up app. You can join either online or offline organised groups of open minded people who participate in different activities,  for example in art workshops, poetry, creative writing. You can join any group or choose the one which correlate with your area of interest.

Another interesting platform is eventbrite.co.uk where you can find lots of activities to be part of, again either online or offline.

I think that when you feel surrounded by people even when it is just an online community, you can feel part of it and it takes you out of loneliness zone. 

Remember also that during the loneliness some people become very creative. Perhaps you can write a book about your life and work experience as a Counsellor who works with desible people. If you have such a good skills you can even create online course for people interesting in this field or start Instagramming. 

I follow on Instagram lots of interesting people. 
One of them is a man who qualified in nursing and works in one of the emergency department in hospital in my home country. He constantly posts about his job and he manage to write a book about his experience of work . 

Perhaps you already doing all this than it is great and know you doing well. 

Have a good day. 

Alex_Alumni

Hi @KStout_135 and a warm welcome to the community from me. It's great to have you join us and I hope you enjoy exploring the forum. 

If you need a hand with anything please just shout, we're here to help

Alex

KStout_135

Thank you so much! It's really nice to know this community is here  

Danielle_2022

Hi there @KStout_135,
Just wanted to check in and welcome you to the community. I hope that you'll find the links above to be helpful in finding your way and creating connections. I think you have touched on something that doesn't get spoken about enough -- how the strive for independence, such as living in an apartment, can be a lonely experience. I think it's so wonderful that you use your skills as a counsellor to help disabled people -- I often find myself feeling like we are not represented enough in the field! Still, it's also not always easy to carry and I hope that you make time for yourself, too. I have faith that you'll be able to make some lovely friends here, but it would also be great to socialise outside of the community, too. As mentioned above, online events might be a good starting point for this, if you find the idea of being in-person overwhelming right now.

Let us know if we can do anything further to support you in this

[Deleted User]

@KStout_135 I would like to welcome to the community as well  

KStout_135

Thank you!