Meetups and clubs

Can reduce social isolation, make new friends and aquaintinces. You never know who you might meet.

Can also serve as a great distraction. Having set times when you go to meetups and clubs and trying to be a regular can help improve routine. I feel like my mental health benefited a lot from having a good routine.

Meetups can improve confidence & self esteem.

They can give you a sense of belonging. As well as enjoyment.

I've made great supportive friends from mental health meetups at the mental health charity 'MIND'. People that go to these tend to have struggled themselves so they show compassion towards one another. People can act as peer support and hear what you are going through. I like mental health meetups especially as there is no judgement, which was helpful when I had more social phobia. I found MIND's meetups easier to go when I struggled with this.

There's a great website called meetup.com, which have loads of different meetups especially if you're around a big city like London. There's meetups for pretty much everything.

Mind have various mental health meeting places across the country. There are mental health walking groups such as "Mental Health Mates" across England and "The Proper Blokes Club" around London & the south east of England.

I tend to think of more ideas when I write things down. It might not work for you but you could always write down a list of things you enjoy / have enjoyed doing. Then use meetup.com, or google (making sure to type your area in) and with the activities to find new clubs and meetups.

What's good about online you can find very specific types of meetups. For example there is a group called the "Young Chiltern Walkers" that I like to go where majority of people are in their 20's and 30's. You can find gender only groups if that is what you prefer.