You’re an important piece in the puzzle. How Can You Help Foster Connections?

Modified from January 2019

Connection is such an important piece of our lives. I think of all the people I have in my life. My support system has helped me in many invaluable ways in my lifetime. But, what if they weren’t there? Where would I be right now?

Through my years of working at the HCQU, this theme has been an ongoing thought in my head concerning those that we support. Who are their connections? When things go wrong in their lives, who are their life lines? How many people have connections that aren’t people who are paid to support them? Do they have relationships in their lives that could be considered true and lasting friendships? If not, what are the long term effects of loneliness?

I have been fortunate enough to have the privilege of meeting many people receiving services in our system over the years. Often, when I ask people if they have any friends, the answer is no. They may say their friends are their staff. Sometimes people note staff that have only been working with them for a very short period of time. We, as a system, know that staff come and go frequently for a variety of reasons. So there may be a loss felt each and every time staff leave if the person doesn’t have a personal support system.

Where do you find your friends? Some of us may have developed friendships in high school that have maintained the test of time. We may have connected with people who have a shared interest. We also may have made friends through work. Some of my most meaningful relationships have occurred through work as we all have a shared passion.

How do we, as a system, foster friendships for the people we support? Do we teach people the reciprocal nuances of friendship? What about teaching people their responsibilities in a friendship? Do we facilitate people exploring their interests such as personal development classes? How can we make it possible for people to connect with friends to go to dinner or a movie?

Loneliness is such a vast and often ignored issue in our system. Additionally, we know that many people receiving services have an extremely poor health outlook. We also know that people suffer from a great deal of mental health struggles. I pose this question to you. How many of you could say: if you did not have that one close friend or those friends it would not affect your health or mental health?

It is through our connections with others that we learn to not only survive this life, but to flourish.