By Kendall Worth!
I want to start this BLOG post off by quickly reviewing this BLOG post here where
I reported on one welfare recipient who had the experience of a friend
cancelling a coffee date on him. This person’s friend cancelled those
plans to meet for coffee because of anxiety.
In this BLOG Post I report on how this welfare recipient was feeling one week later. I should mention that the person who cancelled plans described themselves as an introvert.
Does the term introvert encourage social isolation? That is what people in the community I advocate for are asking themselves.
Everyone I have spoken to agrees that alone-time is a necessary part of
life, but too much time alone can be damaging to mental health.
Some people see “introverts” as people who are shy. But my question is: are introverts just shy or are some of them suffering from anxiety that keeps them from socializing?
The community I advocate for seems to get a lot of mixed messages about the meaning of the word “introvert.” This is where the existence of a foundation for introverts could come in handy.
However, in this current BLOG post I am reporting on the fact that people cancelling their plans to meet friends for coffee and other social activities has become more of an issue here in Halifax. They are using mental health related reasons and calling themselves introverts to explain why. Also several other concerned citizens in Halifax who follow my BLOG have been raising their concerns to me that a high number of these people may be struggling to socialize more since COVID, when we all had to spend a lot of time alone.
This whole thing about the increase in the amount of people identifying themselves as introverts has even been concerning to doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and counselors.
Here in Halifax, there is a lot of social stigma around income assistance recipients. In my recent BLOG Here, I report on income assistance recipients experiencing this stigma. Also when you look at the history of what the income assistance rates have been in Nova Scotia over these past several years, you can understand why this group of people is struggling especially with high inflation:
However, there is anxiety resulting from everything happening here in Halifax these days with:
- Prices of groceries rising due to inflation
- Lack of healthy food available at food-banks
- The ever increasing homeless population and next to nothing as far as solutions to the housing crisis
- And lets not forget the policies of the Employment Support and Income Assistance Programs in Nova Scotia failing to address social isolation. For more about that, click here and here.
With all of the above being said, you can see why more and more people are not wanting to do social things. Of course, the cost of socializing (eating at a restaurant, buying a coffee etc.) is a factor too.
Even though not having enough money may make someone feel introverted, introverts are not limited to people living in poverty. Many working people earning decent wages have social anxiety as well.
However these days, there is a whole other side to this.
Lately I have been hearing in my community that people who are cancelling plans to meet their friends for coffee, or cancelling plans to gather in social groups include people who work in the day or go to school, and who feel drained by the time they get home.
As I reported in this BLOG post here, some people question me about my Social Prescription Organization idea. They argue that there is more to life than going out to restaurants, socializing, getting a drink or grabbing a coffee. They think that a Social Prescription Organization would just be one big social club, which is not true. Some people haven’t been very nice about the way they’ve asked this question either!
In fact for people who identify themselves as introverts, A Social Prescription Organization is for these people the answer.
So, are many people who identify as introverts also experiencing some form of social anxiety, or is this just their personality?
It can be frustrating when someone cancels their plans to meet someone on income assistance. Cancelled plans can make us feel even more socially isolated than we already do.
When you tell a doctor, therapist or social worker about the fact that someone recently cancelled plans on you, they will often tell us that we are not alone. But even though they understand the reasons why cancelled plans can be harmful to an income assistance recipient’s mental health, they cannot connect their patient to another patient who is experiencing similar problems. That wouldn't be within their professional boundaries.
Again, this is where a Social Prescription Organization / A Social Prescribing program would offer a solution.
So let raise awareness!
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