For Mental Health Week, Let’s Talk About Building Bridges When Life Feels Lonely

Last month, I wrote about feeling like an outsider—that ache of wondering whether your struggles or questions really belong anywhere.

This month, let’s talk about the antidote: community. Not just any kind, but the sort that meets you exactly where you are, even when everything feels uncertain.

Mental Health Week isn’t just about self-care routines or therapy hashtags. It’s a reminder that support doesn’t always look like a solution—it can be a conversation, a quiet understanding, or the simple act of not having to explain yourself.

Community becomes the invisible scaffolding that helps hold us up through life’s messier transitions.

Whether you’re feeling adrift in new parenthood, navigating a career shift, or beginning to question long-held beliefs about identity or belonging, connection can be the difference between surviving and slowly finding your way back to yourself.

Community and Mental Health: What We’re Often Not Taught

We’re often told to embrace change, but no one teaches us how to ask for help when it feels like we’re unravelling. Even “good” change can be disorienting.

A new job, a baby, a relationship ending, a long-awaited move—any of these can shake our sense of who we are.

In these moments, community doesn’t need to be big. It can be the WhatsApp group where someone finally says, “I’m finding this really hard.” It can be the friend who texts back, “Me too.”

When we’re brave enough to speak honestly, we often find we’re not as alone as we thought.

Parenting and Mental Health: Breaking the Silence

Fertility clinics and parenting blogs rarely talk about the guilt of not loving every moment. But the truth is, isolation often sets in long before the baby arrives—and stays long after the visitors leave.

You might have typed a late-night search, hoping to find someone else who feels how you do. Maybe it’s a Reddit thread at 2 a.m., or a friend admitting over coffee: “Sometimes I really hate it too and wonder if I’m getting it all wrong.” In those raw, honest moments, something softens. We begin to see that what we’re feeling isn’t wrong—it’s human.

Organisations like Postpartum Support International (visit here) offer a reminder that struggling doesn’t mean failing. And sharing what’s real, even just with one person, can shift the weight.

Queer Journeys: Finding Ground in Shifting Spaces

Sexuality and identity journeys are rarely linear. Whether you’re navigating queer parenthood, coming out later in life, or holding tension between your desires and your faith, it can feel like there’s no safe place to land.

For many, “family” is something we build, not something we’re born into. Spaces like LGBT Foundation (click here) or local LGBTQ+ community groups offer more than resources—they offer belonging.

Feeling like an outsider doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. Often, it’s a sign you’re moving toward a version of yourself that’s more true, not less. And that search deserves to be witnessed.

Finding or Building the Support You Need

Not sure where to begin? Here are a few small, meaningful steps:

• Start close: A vulnerable conversation with one trusted friend can be enough.
• Search local: Try “your town + support group” or look for therapists and networks that reflect your values and identity
• Be the brave one: Ask the honest question. Say the thing out loud. You never know who’s been waiting for someone to go first.

A Note from Me

As a therapist, I often meet people in these quiet in-between places—when the old way of living no longer fits, but the new one hasn’t taken shape yet. And I’ve seen again and again how even the smallest connection can spark something powerful.

This Mental Health Week, I invite you to notice where you feel most seen. And if that place doesn’t yet exist for you—know that it can be built. You don’t have to do it all at once. You just have to begin.

If you're navigating a big change and wondering where to turn, feel free to find out more about how I work (click here).

Let’s keep building the kinds of support we all deserve.