This week, we are celebrating friendship and making connections.
Supporting a friend
Sometimes the best thing we can offer a friend is compassion and a listening ear, especially if this friend is going through a difficult time. The charity Student Minds has created a “Look after your Mate“ guide which highlights some of the things we can do to support a friend, including how to start difficult conversations.
Making friends
While some of us may be looking after our mates, others of us have yet to make any friends. If this in the case for you, Think Student and Save the Student provide top tips on how to make friends at Uni, while Student Minds helps us identify why making friends has been difficult with advice on how to address this.
If social anxiety has been a barrier to making friends, Healthline helps us think about how we can make friends when we have social anxiety.
Sharing a common interest can be a great way to make friends. There are hundreds of student clubs and societies at Cambridge. Becoming a member of a student club or society not only gives us a natural topic of conversation to start with (ie the special interest itself), but it also means that events are usually planned so that all we need to do is turn up. Trinity Hall JCR has a list of the College’s clubs and societies, and Cambridge SU has a directory of the student clubs and societies at the University.
When our friendships don’t feel as meaningful as we’d like
Sometimes, it may feel as though we have friends on paper yet the moments we spend together can seem unsatisfying and meaningless. The School of Life’s video on The Purpose of Friendship reminds us of some the key aspects we should get out of our friendships that we can often not get anywhere else.
Being your own best friend
Perhaps the most important friendship we can have is a friendship with ourselves. The School of Life’s video on Learning to be a Friend to Yourself teaches us how to do this.
If you need advice
If you are having difficulty making friends or you are having friendship issues and you need advice, please don’t hesitate to speak to your Tutor or the Wellbeing Team (wellbeing@trinhall.cam.ac.uk)
Friendship and making connections resources
- Student clubs and societies directory
- How to make friends at Uni
- How to deal with having no friends at University
- How to make friends when you have social anxiety
- Support for a friend
- How to be a good Friend by the School of Life
- How to be a good listener
- How to love oneself
- The importance of being single
- I feel so lonely
- Learning to be a friend to yourself
- The Purpose of friendship
General relationships
Relationship breakdown
Working and study relationships
Words by Lisa Déry, Director of Wellbeing.
