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If you would like to have a loving relationship, there are organizations that can aid you to develop friendship, which could lead to you fulfilling your desire. For instance, Friendship Network can help mental health consumers advance from loneliness to having a friend who cares.

Alice Cohen created the Friendship Network nine years ago through her local Queens/Nassau chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill; she found that it is crucial for mentally challenged individuals to establish a social life as part of recovery. Alice and her friend, Berna Case, who also thinks that it is critical that mentally ill persons establish friendship, oversees Friendship Network.

When asked what they found most pleasing about working with persons who are mentally ill, Alice and Berna agreed that it is helping, "somebody who doesn't go anywhere, who has no friends, who has no life and suddenly they have one."

Alice and Berna initiate friendships by guiding the introduction of individuals who are interested in each other: "If they feel anxious and they get a little uptight about meeting a person, we'll walk them through that. In other words, we let them know that he or she is as nervous as you are. You are going to see that when you start to speak to one another everything else will disappear, because you will realize that he or she is also nervous," said Alice.

After introduction, individuals can enhance their friendship by participating in activities that Friendship Network provides. "[We] have group…activities such as bowling, tennis lessons, ballroom dancing," Berna said. Individuals also meet "with a social worker one Friday night a month to talk about their socialization problems." Furthermore, according to Friendship Network information, consumers enjoy all the activities that they take part in and the level of companionship they exchange with each other.

When asked if the friendship that they developed with consumers helps a person with mental illness, Berna said, "Oh, there is no question about it…It helps them to get along better with colleagues. So that, in the future, if they go out to get a mainstream job, they can work with other people."

However, although Friendship Network management stresses the association's primary goal is to encourage friendship, the organization makes it known that some of its members have formed close relationships as well: "[There] have been six weddings, several long term relationships and many grateful members who no longer feel as isolated as they did prior to joining."

Compeer, a national organization, emphasizes friendship like the Friendship Network does. Compeer claims, "A caring friend can help to restore some joy and hope to a life that is often empty of both." In essence, Compeer is an organization that pairs "volunteers in supportive friendship relationships" with consumers.

Compeer recently surveyed consumers, therapists, and volunteers in its program, and found that 82% of consumers' self-esteem has improved.

On the other hand, Friendship Network's management has a unique way of describing their success: "If we measure it financially, we are a failure. But, if we measure it by the number of members that keep coming back…[and telling] us how much happier they are… then our cup runneth over," said Berna.