Connected is for the learner who wants more belonging: after a move to a new place of study, in a first year far from home, when a circle of friends changes, or in the quieter stretches of a long degree. It is gentle, practical and useful at any stage of study and of life.
Connection is a skill that grows. The course begins by helping you understand your own experience: how much loneliness there is, what kind, and what keeps it going, and the difference between loneliness, being alone and healthy solitude. Loneliness that arrives with a transition, such as starting university, is situational and tends to ease as you adapt and build new connections; the course helps you build them. From there it grows the confidence and conversation skills that make connection possible, at your own pace. It is not about becoming an extrovert; introverts have their own place in it.
Inside, My Belonging & Connection Audit rates your sense of belonging across the different settings of your life, and Your Relationship Circles maps who is close. Conversation and Social Skills Practice and Connecting with Others by Self-Disclosure build the skills of talking and opening up, and Expanding My Social Circle helps you find new opportunities for meaningful relationships. The bonus module adds the Active Constructive Responding Log, for answering a friend's good news in a way that strengthens the friendship. You finish with My Loneliness Action Plan.
Begin with the first module, Understanding Your Loneliness, and its tool Understanding My Loneliness. A free 24-hour trial lets you try the whole course first. It is education in the skills of connection, not therapy.
Dr Alten du PlessisFounder, LearnSmart4Life