How to Befriend a Recluse

Video Transcript

"Hi, are you struggling with how to befriend a recluse? Do you have a friend that just stays by themselves all the time? Well, I'm Doctor Felicia and I'd like to share a few tips with you on how to befriend someone who is a recluse. Now this is not an easy task because typically a recluse will forcefully want to stay by themselves. And a friendship takes a mutual understanding and exchange between two people. So, you have a challenge ahead of you. But, if you're persistent, and perhaps it's a relative, a friend of someone you're concerned about, what you want to do is certainly be there for them, call them, let them know that you're available to take them out or to be with them if they want to. And then, you may not get a phone call back, so you're going to have to be persistent and you're not going to have to take a personal rejection out of it. This is just something that happens with a recluse person. The next thing you might want to do is send notes, leave something under the door, send them an email if they do email, and also try to send what we call subtle messages that way. So, as you proceed and you go through with this you want to remember not to get frustrated, you want to be very patient. And if you really feel frustrated or are concerned about your recluse friend, perhaps you need to solicit a family member. One of their family members, a cousin, sister, uncle, or aunt that will help you break the ice with that person. And remember, if it doesn't happen a friendship takes mutual exchange. You can only do so much, it takes two to make the friendship. So befriending a recluse can be difficult but can be rewarding if you value that person's friendship. I do wish you good luck with this. This is Doctor Felicia signing off. God bless."