Community & Belonging
Belonging grows through participation, not performance.
Find your people, understand the support already around you and learn how to build connection without expecting one person to meet every need.
You do not need to belong everywhere.
A few relationships and spaces where you can participate honestly may matter far more than being accepted everywhere while hiding important parts of yourself.
Belonging develops through repeated moments of contact, participation, asking, receiving, contributing and allowing relationships to grow over time.
What would help you most right now?
You do not need to work through every page first. Start with the situation that feels closest to where you are today.
Your Support Network
Map the emotional, practical, professional and community support already available in your life.
Explore your support network → I want to understand who is close to meCircle of Connection
Think about different levels of closeness and the people who belong in each part of your relational world.
Explore your circle → I need support but don't know how to askAsking for Help
Turn a vague sense of needing support into a clearer, more specific request another person can respond to.
Learn how to ask → I need more than one person to rely onCreating Your Village
Build a wider web of relationships and resources instead of asking one relationship to carry every kind of need.
Start building your village →
Belonging is not finding a place where you never feel uncomfortable. It is finding relationships and spaces where there is enough safety to keep showing up as yourself.
Build belonging one step at a time.
Choose the part of connection that feels hardest, most interesting or most needed right now.
Finding Your People
Notice where your interests, values and way of being are more likely to be welcomed and understood.
Explore finding your people →Building Community
Turn repeated contact, shared purpose and participation into a stronger sense of community.
Explore building community →Asking for Help
Make requests clearer, more specific and easier for another person to respond to honestly.
Explore asking for help →Accepting Help
Explore the vulnerability, trust and discomfort that can arise when somebody offers support.
Explore accepting help →Giving Support
Offer care without rescuing, over-functioning or ignoring your own capacity and boundaries.
Explore giving support →Volunteering & Contribution
Build connection and meaning through contribution that fits your values, interests and available capacity.
Explore contribution →Maintaining Relationships
Use small acts of contact, care, remembering and repair to keep meaningful relationships alive over time.
Explore maintaining relationships →Creating Your Village
Bring together different people and sources of support so one relationship does not have to meet every need.
Explore creating your village →
Looking for a different kind of relationship support?
Return to Connect to explore trust, communication, healthy relationships, behaviour patterns and recovery.