Feeling lonely and homesick

Feeling lonely and homesick is normal for students moving away from home or your 'usual' living environment. It takes time to settle in, find friends and create a home away from home.

To get some useful advice on how to get used to a new place faster, please see “Your Living Environment” in the Wellbeing A-Z section.

Top tips

It is important to remember that you are in a process of getting used to or adapting to change in your life. Feelings of loss are not unusual, especially when you are moving away from home
Try to balance your time in a way that you have enough time to socialise and distract yourself - join societies, visit talks and seminars, meet up with your new friends and communicate with your friends and family via phone/Skype/apps
Try to challenge any negative thoughts - use a self-help tool such as a thought record sheet
If your feelings of loneliness start to get in the way of your academic work - seek support, ask for help, talk to someone!
Remember, humans are social beings! We need to create our personal social network, which in turn will tackle loneliness