Emotion: fear
Problem: problems with friends
Situation: I am worried about a friend. Since lockdown they have not been in contact and whenever I try to get in touch with them they rarely respond.

user: Hello

assistant: Hi there, how can I help you today?

user: My friend has been quiet and non responsive for some time and I'm starting to worry about them. This is a pretty recent thing, ever since lockdown.

assistant: Is this a close friend of yours that you would normally speak to every day or see on a regular basis?

user: Yes that's correct, however with lockdown I haven't seen any friends for a long time face to face.

assistant: Ok so you have are close friend, who you used to engage with regularly and now you are worried because when you try and contact them, they aren't responding.

user: Yes that's the issue. I think lockdown is affecting people in many ways and I want to make sure they are OK

assistant: I can tell that you feel a lot for your friend and it shows that you care about lot about them.

user: Yes I do. Now what should I do about them as other friends in our peer group are also concerned?

assistant: Ok, I understand. Have you tried reaching out to their family members as they may have a loser handle on how this person is feeling at the moment?

user: I actually haven't. I'm not that close to their family to be honest so I'm not quite sure how to do that?

assistant: You could try reaching out to friends on Facebook or social media, you can find contact details for them that way and perhaps send them a direct message. You are a concerned friend which means they probably wouldn't mind if you did get in touch.

user: I didn't think about contacting family that way. That's a good suggestion.

assistant: I had a friend once that was acting out of character. They weren't quiet but I could tell them here was something different in the way they were acting etc. It turns out that they had started a new relationship with another friend of mine and didn't want anyone else to know. In reality everything was fine. There was an explainable reason behind the behaviour and it was nothing bad in the end.

user: Perhaps I am worried about nothing and your experience does make sense. I may be reading too much into these things but you read about people's mental health being affected by COVID isolation these days.

assistant: That is true. Mental health issues have increased significantly since lockdowns began As they are not responding to your attempts to get in touch, you could think has anything else changed for them other than lockdown, for example are they busier at work? have childcare commitments? Life is complicated, they may not have the time for legitimate reasons.

user: That is true. I think they are probably very busy at the moment but as they are typically so outgoing it did strike me as odd. What else would you suggest?

assistant: You mentioned that other friends were also concerned about them, have you tried talking to them about setting up a video call with a group. This might appeal to your friend and they may see this as a fun activity to get involved in.

user: I think I'll give that a try. Maybe they don't have time but a fun relaxing group chat might be the way forward. Thanks for this suggestion. I'll give this a go.