Moving away

Moving away from home can be difficult. It might be that you are moving with your family to a new place, or it could be that you’re moving out of the family home to live independently, or you could be moving into care. For whatever reason it is happening, moving can be scary. It can mean a new neighbourhood, new people, maybe a new school, new friends, not being able to see your old friends as much, maybe being further away from family members you were close with – it’s a lot of change all at once.

It may be tempting to want to run away back to where you used to live, but it may not be safe for you to stay there any more. It may also be that the journey is difficult or not very safe to do on your own.

If you feel like the new place you are living is safe but you just don’t like it very much, maybe you could start to do things that make you feel more at home in your new space – fill your new room with things that feel comfortable to you, join in new activities and make an effort to talk to people to make new friends – it doesn’t mean that you value your old friends any less, but you can never have too many friends and they could help you to feel happier.

You could try talking to your family about how you are feeling and, if you are able to, they may be able to arrange for visits back to where you used to live to see the people you miss, or you may be allowed to have people come to visit you.

If you are not happy about where you are living now because it doesn’t feel safe, you can call a helpline to talk about your options – they can connect you with people who can help you get to a safer place.

You can also think about ways you can stay in touch with people you miss – like instant messaging or talking online. Make sure you take care doing this and know who it is you are talking to.