[H]

Hi all,

I’m writing this message to the moderators to find out if opfs can arrange a get together as it seems loneliness is a common theme with many of the people who post on this forum. I am open to going to an event organised by opfs to meet others in a similar situation. Does anyone else think this would be a good idea?

Thanks,

H.

[DeborahMcLeod]

I think this would be a great idea, not just for us parents but for our kids to make new friends too

[LawDad]

Good idea

[Dopamine_Hopes]

I’d be up for this too. I think a lot of us would really benefit from it 🤗

[Kazom30]

I’d be up for that. My biggest problem is loneliness at the moment and it’s a horrible place to be as a single parent. I miss the Saturdays that OPF used to run.

[H]

Hi all,

It looks like we’re all for meeting up which’s great but it seems the moderators are not quick on the uptake to action this perhaps because they’re volunteers and are not working full time?

I’ve contacted someone from the Edinburgh branch and left a message. If they are able to offer any advice and it’s within the community guidelines, I’ll share the info they give me if any.

Thanks for all your replies, I hope I can sort something as this loneliness is crushing for us all. 🙁

H 🙂

[Philippa Kemp]

Hello, Philippa, one of the OPFS moderators here. Sorry for the late response to your thread. We are deliberately hands off in terms of this forum because we want it to be peer support led, apart from if there is a need for us to intervene for safety reasons. Having said this, obviously we should have been a little quicker off the mark this time! I would also say that we are very interested to hear back from parents whether there is anything we can do to increase engagement on the forum. Do let us know and we will do our best to make improvements where we can.

In terms of meeting up in person, it is great that you are doing this – we know how isolating it can be to be parenting or caring alone. I have spoken to our Edinburgh service to see if there are plans for any social meetups/outings in the pipeline. They have a newsletter which includes news and events in the local area and have suggested I send on the link to sign up so that you will be informed of any plans in the pipeline as well as updates on what is available to parents in Edinburgh. The sign up link is http://eepurl.com/c_4FI5

In terms of community guidelines for meetups, the only ones we have here are those that govern the online space for the forum and would not apply to meetups as the forum is built around anonymity and chatting online. I think we would just remind you to ensure that names and email addresses are not shared on the forum itself but that you share personal details in WhatsApp or similar by sharing a link to a WhatsApp group if you are planning to meet in person.

Does this help?

Thanks for reaching out,
Philippa

[Katherine24]

I have just joined at think this is a great idea as it is a common problem with us adults. My children are teenagers therefore have their own social lives so I don’t need to bring them along to anything.

[Kitkat73]

Hi, my sons a teen too, so get where you’re coming from with feeling lonely x
Happy to arrange to meet with others in the same situation

[H]

Hi all,

Thanks for the post Philippa and everyone else who replied.

I joined meet up despite it being out of my comfort zone and have been to some events when I am able to. I also attended a compassion course run by the NHS psychology department in my area. I’ve found that these changes have helped with my loneliness and both have really helped turn my life around. I think much of my loneliness was to do with a negative self image and fear of going to group things as I’m more comfortable in a one to one situation. Pushing myself has helped broaden my outlook and allow me to explore different parts of me.

The events I organise are vegan ones and I attend lgbtq+ events as well as craft/art ones. I think meet up works best for me in the sense that I can choose when I am able to organise and attend events with being a single parent. I originally wanted to organise something with all us single parents but there are medical things going on with me at the moment so I wouldn’t be as reliable as I would need to be to organise something here.

I may well meet some of you at a meet up event….

I appreciate everyones honesty and openness about feeling lonely. It’s tough to say the least but there are beautiful moments within those dark times. Keep trying and moving step by step.

Take care all.

H 🙂

[Author]

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