Our projects

We know loneliness is a public health crisis that is not going away. We wanted to do our bit to help young people feel empowered to overcome loneliness throughout their lives. Finding Friends is our book that educates and empowers children to tackle loneliness.

Finding Friends Book

The battle against loneliness

Loneliness is an epidemic. Some researchers argue that young people are in fact the most affected by loneliness.

The COVID-19 lockdowns had a dramatically negative impact on children and their mental health.

We know that loneliness presents differently at each stage of life, and the challenges and strategies to overcome it are unique to that stage.

We wrote this book because we are passionate about changing the above for children and empowering them with tools and strategies to address loneliness throughout their lives.

Finding Friends Book

About the book

The book is five short stories, set at four different stages of life with a final story linking it all together. Embedded within each story are common challenges that people of that age group commonly face in relation to loneliness and their mental health. In addition, each story contains evidence-based strategies and tools to tackle each of these challenges and impact the readers’ mental health positively.

To amplify the impact of this book, the authors have partnered with community-based non profit organisations who are assisting in bringing this book to diverse audiences.

Finding Friends book provides a simple guide to doing so with diverse characters, experiences and insights throughout. All proceeds from this book are being put towards children’s mental health research and the authors are taking no profit from the book.

get to know us

Our authors

Samyuktya Karthik

Recently completed the MPhil in Population Health Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Her current research looks at policies and interventions for Special Education Needs and Disabilities communities.

This is her second children’s book and she has previously worked on mental health toolkits for early education curriculum. She has direct experience having worked in a psychiatry unit. Samyuktya is looking forward to bringing diverse and inclusive mental health resources through Finding Friends!

Chris Hope

Chris studied social innovation at the University of Cambridge where he focussed on interventions for loneliness in vulnerable groups. He is a TEDx speaker, having spoken in 2019 about the power of human connection. This came after a personal project where he met 100 strangers for coffee in 100 weeks.

In the same year, he founded a non-profit that delivered workshops in schools to assist young people with social connection skills. He is a current university lecturer and regular public speaker on the topic of loneliness. He is excited to address a very serious issue in society through an engaging book that makes a positive impact on children.

Vivian Zhao

Vivian recently completed the MPhil in Population Health Sciences at the University of Cambridge and their current research is working to identify new applications of existing drugs to treat a range of psychiatric disorders. Vivian has also developed training modules on the social determinants of health currently used by 15 universities in the United States.

Her experience working with children in a child psychiatry unit has influenced her passion to increase access to mental health resources for young people. She is excited to bring Finding Friends to global audiences!

Finding friends

Support our project

If you are interested in being kept up to date with our progress then join our mailing list.

We appreciate all donations, all proceeds from this book are being put towards children’s mental health research and the authors are taking no profit from the book.