Asking the hive mind here and going to try to keep it quick…
my DD is 18. School /GCSEs was disrupted by covid and eventually she dropped out of A levels too as it was too hard - not surprising when basic foundations meant to be taught and understood through GCSEs were basically missed.
shes always struggled with MH and depression since puberty started at 12. Kind of a geek kid rather than a drink / drugs /party kid.
so here’s the problem - she has zero friends.
she would love to make friends but doesn’t actually know how and has crippling social anxiety and over thinks everything. We literally couldn’t be more different.
how can I help her?! She goes to work but works with people in their 40s+ that have their own teenagers and don’t really get involved socialising. She has no hobbies and doesn’t find anything at all interesting - she said she just feels like she’s existing - she goes to work and hates it, then on her days off she does nothing and goes nowhere whilst she waits to return to work the following g day.
how can I help her break free of this cycle of whatever it is she’s in? All very well and good saying ‘get a hobby’ - such as what? What can a young lady do, where she can meet other people and make friends when her mindset is such that everything is dull and pointless. We’ve been back to the drs countless times and they even prescribed antidepressants once she turned 18 then she refused to take them.
she won’t take a walk or exercise, she doesn’t nourish her body and just eats shite - she’s slim and beautiful at the moment but if she’s blessed with my ahem metabolism I can guarantee that won’t last and she’ll sink further into self loathing.
honestly she would just sit in her room all day with her cat playing Roblox yet she recognises she’s miserable and wasting her life but doesn’t know how / where to start or what to do.
suggestions On a postcard please!
oh and she can drive and we live close by to a town.