I work with a lot of people with mental health problems and the biggest set back on their recovery is isolation and loneliness. Before lock down, the bulk of my time was spent finding coffee clubs, college courses, hobby clubs and book clubs but the main part of building a relationship was getting to know the person interests, then matching them with an activity. So many times they get put into a club or activity that’s not suited to them and it causes a negative effect. Once they are placed somewhere they have an interest or knowledge of, they start to make their own support network up, thus stopping isolation. The main point is to put the work in, to find people’s desires and interests and this is where you get the best success rate. Just putting them into whatever’s available, can have a negative effect. Well that was what it was like before covid….[to be continued]