This week is Loneliness Awareness Week and at Paisley YMCA, we’ve been looking at the differing effects loneliness can have on the mental health of young people and this year’s theme of Random Acts of Connection.
Loneliness is an epidemic that can affect anyone at any age but in our working with young people, we’ve found that many can struggle with feelings of isolation especially in the past several years. While growing up can often be a lonely experience, it takes on a new form when you are isolated from seeing your friends or members of your family. Even with lock-down restrictions now lifted, many people are still immunocompromised, and many young people are still feeling the effects of that lost time.
We spoke to youth worker Kieran McPhail about the impact he believes the pandemic had on increasing the loneliness and isolation of young people;
“Even with the world returned to what many would consider “normality”, many people are still feeling the isolating effects of poor mental health or even physical health as the world lurched back and forth. Young people especially felt the sting as their ability to socialise, play and hang out with friends was hampered by lock-down after lock-down, and ever shifting rules and safeguarding measures. From the reopening of our doors, post pandemic through to now – we strove to ensure our young people have a space where they can be safe, happy, have fun and see their friends and continue to do so.
“After spending a year looking at one another through a screen during the covid pandemic, seeing those same young people laughing, playing and building such strong bonds of friendship with each other that continue to grow to this day is incredible, seeing them empower one another, even if they’ve only met a few times and still seeing them reach out and support each other is at the heart of youth work.”
Since the lifting of lock-down measures only a few years ago, we have had brand new attendees becoming regulars at our weekly STEM sessions. Since re-opening our doors, many of our young people we had previously seen every week opened themselves up to new experiences, connecting with new friends they only see in our space. Many of our young people attend different schools and live in various areas in Renfrewshire, meaning our space is often the time of week for them to spend time with the friends they make there. Whenever we see a new name on our registers each week, it opens the door to making a new and random connection with someone. As Kieran states;
“Youth work and its spaces, be it a wee nook in the corner of a library or a sprawling building filled with activity, we work with young people to give them the space to make friends, the space to be heard and the space to be supported to achieve.
“Youth work provides spaces like this, supportive, comfortable where young people can be themselves and support each other without judgement or pressure and are vital to allowing young people to come together.”
The mental health and wellbeing of young people will always remain one of the top priorities of the work we do and we are thankful to be able to provide sessions and activities for young people to make new connections they can only find at Paisley YMCA.
For more info and updates on our club activity, follow us on social media such as Twitter (X), Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook and Eventbrite to sign up for our free weekly STEM sessions.