Family and Caregiver Schizophrenia Discussion Forum

Phone Buddies? Anyone else's relative lonely and isolated?

Family
#1

Does anyone else have a lonely loved one who would benefit from more social interaction?

My mother is 63, paranoid schizophrenic for at least 30 years. She gets help coming by her house almost daily, but she still feels so lonely. She keeps telling me “I need a friend! I don’t have any friends!” There are places I can take her to ‘meet people’ but they are all closed due to Covid.

So I was thinking… Is this a problem others are having? Could we put two lonely people together on a phone call? Set up like a buddy program?

Anyone else interested in this? Maybe we would talk to each other first, as a way of feeling out a fit?

As for mine, she is creative, funny, a die-hard Democrat, currently fascinated with the 10 commandments. She is generally really supportive and enthusiastic about what other people are into.

Maybe it could be a bright spot in their days…

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#2

I like what you’re trying to do here! Some kind of buddy program… I see potential. I can’t exactly sign my own MI partner up, and he’s not isolated (shit, I’M more isolated than HE is! Sigh…) but it did get me thinking about a good friend of mine that moved to another state and we’ve stayed in touch long distance. Our phone time is valuable because she suffers COPD (a lung/breathing condition) and hasn’t left her house since Covid so she FEELS the isolation like nobody else!
I think it’s a great suggestion! This could work in some form for anybody at all that’s become isolated for whatever reason… geolocation, elderly, chronic illness…
Let us know if it gets hashed out and works!

#3

Does age matter? My 31 year old MI son is very kind, sweet and interested in making music and would like to have someone to talk with.

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#4

256 585 5097 call or text

#5

Donna, my son is 28 and plays several instruments, writes songs, and sings beautifully. In fact, he used to perform in public before this illness robbed him of all friends, his motivation, and his spunky personality. I would love to find a way to help him connect with another person like your son. He often says he would like to go back to some of the residential mental health programs simply to have someone to talk to. We have no support groups in our small Georgia town.

1 Like