“Stay away from social media!!!!” Last I heard that was the warning given to young people on the hof. “Don’t relate to this person or that person, they are bad!”
You were raised in community and while the hof may not be the place for you, you may still need community to find happiness. Reach out to people around you, join a group of people doing good things. Yes, you can fall into the wrong group and need to be careful of that. Many of you will be easily influenced.
But the truth is that the only people who truly know what you are going through are people who have left the hof for one reason or another. And the easiest way to find them is on Facebook. Search for specific names or just search for the group Afterhof on Facebook. There you will connect with hundreds of people who have been through something similar and are eager to reach out a helping hand for whatever you need to get you through this difficult transition. If nothing else you can message the admin for this site and we will connect with you.
If you are ever in a bad situation, whatever it is, reach out and ask for help.
The hof has a help line and they have helped many people with documents, connections and occasionally money. Some have found them judgmental but I have it on good authority that they do not intend to be so and others have found them very helpful. The contact information for the Resource Office is [email protected], 1-800-325-8849.
Some ex-hof folks have set up a non-profit group to help. You can reach them at http://www.safelandingproject.org or ask the admin here and we will connect you.
You will always have to use good judgement when choosing who to relate to but don’t bring too many hof assumptions to the task. There are good people all over who care about you and will go out of their way to help if you ask.