Studying Social Work While Struggling to Belong
I'm a female 25years old& study socialwork. English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for the mistakes. After two years of studying social work (and ten weeks of pause in between to go to the psychward) I didn't manage to connect. (The school I am at has a system where we study in fixed classes and there are about 30 peole in one class.) I'm often left out or forgotten and feel or maybe also am avoided. I also understand a bit why the situation is like that because I'm a socially akward& clumsy person when there is no clear way of behaving expected from me. Also I think that people don't notice how I feel maybe they think I want to an outsider. I suck at smalltalk and really am lost and also sometimes bored with surface level talk. And I'm subclinically autisic or maybe clinically autisic. (Depens on what comes out by the second testing.) I know it might seem funny that I chose studying socialwork. But I really love learning about it and also love the jobfield! When I work in the jobfield I always get good feedbacks. But at school I feel like a completely different person. I feel judged and questioned why I'm even there. I told my therapist about this struggle and she recommended me to always stay in the same group of people when having lunch etc. That helped a bit. But also they don't see me as someone to include. They don't really ask me if I want to eat with them and don't really include me in their plans. I feel like it also has to do something with the classdinamics. Because I had to retake two courses. There I was in two other classes and I felt very different. Considered, respected, happy to be there and incuded. They also asked me if I want to have lunch with them. Another factor could be that I'm not very good at friendships. I don't have a very close connection to anyone in my life besides my boyfriend. Mostly because I don't know how to open up or how much would be okay to share. I would love to have closer friendships or just connections. So most of the time I feel like I'm "running" to get connections and be included. I think that just makes it just worse. I would have many things that I like talking about or doing with someone. Also I like myself and worked a lot on that.I overcame some selfharming behaviours and look at live way more positively. But the way I just don't manage to connect or don't feel considered by others hurts a lot. It lets me spiral in bad toughs and I also understand now a lot why those selfharming tendencies even came into my life. I told myself and also my boyfriend that I would talk next week to one or two people in the class about that struggle of feeling lost& not understanding the classdinamics. Maybe that would help. Another idea I have would be to try to enjoy the outsider role& stop trying to be considerd. If you have any other ideas please let me know!
Posted Feb 25, 2026, 9:01 PM UTC