{"id":61874,"date":"2021-06-09T10:57:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T16:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=61874"},"modified":"2021-06-09T10:57:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T16:57:57","slug":"discord-group-helps-women-combat-pandemic-isolation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2021\/06\/09\/discord-group-helps-women-combat-pandemic-isolation\/","title":{"rendered":"Discord Group helps women combat pandemic isolation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>n all-women Discord Group called Calgary friends was created by 23-year-old graphic designer and illustrator Tiana Lawlis on March 11, 2021 in a Reddit Group called Calgary Onwards.<\/p>\n

L<\/span>awlis\u2019s goal was to address the loneliness and isolation felt by women in Calgary who are fed up with not being able to socialize due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really wanting to meet other women in the city. And I’ve found it to be quite difficult to make friends as you get older,\u201d says Discord group founder Lawlis.<\/p>\n

She goes on to explain that at first her post on Reddit was just an attempt to reach out and make friends with other women in the city who were also feeling lonely.<\/p>\n

However, the post on Reddit grew into a large discussion thread of other women feeling the same way and so the Discord group was created.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many other people were also, you know, feeling the COVID loneliness and just in general, having a really hard time meeting other people,\u201d says Lawlis.<\/p>\n

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Reddit user Tiana Lawlis was experiencing difficulties making friends and socializing due to the pandemic so she reached out on Reddit to meet new people and she ended up creating an all-women Discord Channel to combat pandemic loneliness. (Photo by Michaela Pitman\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Angus Reid Institute<\/a>, the percentage of those saying they have a good social life has dropped from more than half in 2019 (55 percent) to just one-in-three (33 percent) in 2020.<\/p>\n

Valeria Lallva is a 29-year-old childcare worker who lives at home with her parents and sister. Under the COVID-19 restrictions, she\u2019s not allowed to have any close external contacts.<\/p>\n

She joined the Discord group with the hope of socializing and meeting people in a virtual setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there’s a whole bunch of people, probably my age, in the city but I don’t go out a lot, especially during COVID. So, I’m hoping that meeting them virtually will make it much easier to meet them later in person,\u201d said Lallva.<\/p>\n

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Screenshot of the Reddit post on Reddit group Calgary Onwards that led to the creation of the Discord Channel. (Photo by Michaela Pitman\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Melissa Grey is a registered psychologist and educational counsellor at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).<\/p>\n

Grey confirms that a main source of stress that people bring up in counselling is having to transition into this new state of socialization.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are isolated, and a huge part of mental well-being is social connections and access to shared understandings of what’s happening around the globe,\u201d says Grey.<\/p>\n

She notes the situation is particularly difficult for those new to the country or city.<\/p>\n

The best way to cope, says Grey, is, \u201crefusing to be isolated and doing what we can to make sure that we recognize it, and we have a willingness because there is a lot that we can do to prevent and kind of keep our mental health strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The creation of the Discord group is one way of solving this problem.<\/p>\n

But Crystal Robinson, 36, who moved to Calgary in June 2020, says, \u201cit’s like a band-aid situation on a wound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson says, \u201cReddit and Discord are both nerdy environments for people who want to play Dungeons & Dragons so I was pretty excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stay-at-home mom and mother of a teen and toddler says she\u2019s an extrovert who loves hosting parties and can\u2019t wait until everyone is vaccinated, the restrictions are lifted and life returns to normal.<\/p>\n

Robinson hosted a Dungeons and Dragons beginner session on the Discord group on Friday, May 21 and it was such a hit it\u2019s going to be a regular online event and eventually an in-person event when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.<\/p>\n

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After Reddit user paintwaterbymistake received a bunch of comments on her post of people also expressing loneliness and looking to make friends she decided to create a Discord Channel just for women in Calgary to hopefully make friends and socialize virtually. (Photo by Michaela Pitman\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joel Zimmerman, a registered psychologist and counselling psychologist at the Calgary Counseling Center, stresses that loneliness has been around long before COVID-19 but that the pandemic, \u201cadds a level of complexity, and it requires more problem-solving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLoneliness is a really common feeling and a totally natural human experience. And so, the first kind of trip is to have some compassion for yourself,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Zimmerman also encourages people \u201cto take action, do something, whether it’s reaching out, whether it is finding activities that you can do, whether they’re alone or not engaging in hobbies or activities engaging online.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is what the Discord Group is trying to address. For more information, contact @petitsia on Discord for access to the channel \u2013 all women are welcome!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An all-women Discord Group called Calgary friends was created by 23-year-old graphic designer and illustrator Tiana Lawlis on March 11, 2021 in a Reddit Group called Calgary Onwards. Lawlis\u2019s goal was to address the loneliness [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":688,"featured_media":61875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1: Discord group for women","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1106],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-61874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life","8":"category-physical-health-and-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61874"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62048,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61874\/revisions\/62048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}