Some people head into the holiday season with full stomachs, full hearts and families at their sides. For them, the idea of loneliness may seem far away.

But there are others who may see the holidays as a troubling obstacle.

Elaine Callahan is the program coordinator for the Butler Mental Health Association’s Compeer program, which pairs people struggling with mental illness with a supportive adult. The project’s goals are to encourage rehabilitation or coping through friendship.

“All our peers (clients) are referred by a mental health professional,” Callahan said.

She said the program has helped many residents who struggle with mental illness, but she acknowledges that recruiting volunteers has become more difficult. She said she blames media coverage of mentally ill people, focusing on those who turn violent and harmful.

“They have their ups and downs just like anyone else,” she said. “Everyone’s situations are different.

“Currently there are 37 individuals waiting for a volunteer to bring joy and support to their life.”

Callahan said everybody’s holidays are different, but some may find them harder if they’re alone. She and her Compeer group pay attention for signs that clients are acting reclusive. She said she wants to provide a mentor friend for all their clients, but lately they have seen a lack of interest in volunteering.

Callahan, who recruits volunteers as well as pairs them up with peers, has found help in Roy Remone, the program’s veterans coordinator, who pairs peers whom served in the military with other veterans.

Remone, who began as a veterans volunteer in 2011, still remembers what Callahan said to him.

“Her sales pitch is, ‘You’ve got a kind looking face,’” he said.

Remone said there is a slight difference between veterans and civilian Compeers, but the difference comes in the severity of personal experience. He said veterans also tend to avoid seeking help.

“There’s a lot of veterans out there that are too proud to ask for help, and it’s their pride that gets them into trouble,” he said. “The isolation and the fears aren’t different, they’re just compounded.”

Gregory Reeder, a peer in the program, was paired this year with volunteer Bill Tatters.

Reeder said sometimes the hardest part isn’t the holiday itself. He said seeing family is a good thing that puts a person in an emotional high, but then the holiday is over, the cards stop being mailed and the invitations to dinners cease.

He said you go from a high to a low, from having company to being alone too quickly to savor the moment.

Reeder said when he finds himself struggling alone, he will drive somewhere, anywhere, in his truck. He said he suffers from high levels of anxiety, and driving helps him calm or at least quiet his nerves. Some days his anxiety even distorts his memory.

“Some days, I think, ‘What did I do today,’” Reeder said. “It’s hard to remember what I did today.”

Callahan said most clients the association serves have troubles financially.

For Reeder, he fears losing his vehicle to increasing repair costs.

“My truck’s gonna wear out, and no one’s gonna buy me another vehicle,” he said. “Then my driving’s done.”

But now, Reeder has Tatters, who visits him at home, watches movies with him or travels with him to Moraine State Park, which Reeder finds fascinating.

“I love that place out there,” he said. “(Bill) has helped me an awful lot.”

Tatters said it is important to keep peers active in society. He said if they can be social, then it goes a long way to building other aspects of their mental health, such as trust and confidence.

“Isolation is the enemy,” he said.

While isolation is harmful to a person’s mental health, studies have found a correlation between loneliness and physical health with depression playing the middleman role.

Cindie Phillips, community liaison for Quality Life Services, said she visits all the company’s nursing home facilities, getting seniors more active in their communities. She said she typically sees lonely seniors develop depression symptoms, which causes them not to take care of themselves.

She said many times seniors see themselves as a burden or they struggle with questions about death, but if they don’t talk to anyone, their emotions become too daunting.

“That just starts the ball rolling,” she said. “They don’t want to get out of bed, maybe they don’t eat or maybe they aren’t taking their medications.”

Phillips said holidays are especially tough for seniors because some may not have any family at all. She said they feel like they have nothing left to live for. For these people, sometimes good friends can be a substitute.

Phillips said senior centers are a great way to encourage socializing, especially during the holidays. However, after state funding cuts, the centers are having difficulties providing the same atmosphere they once did.

Phillips said senior centers are coping the best they can, even sacrificing to make their new situations work, but the seniors still feel their voices are being ignored.

“Folks are coming there, not just for the meal, but for the socialization,” she said.

Phillips said the situation is sad because socializing helps lift the seniors’ spirits. She said some who are handicapped don’t seem to struggle as much when they are in a social setting. She said it also increases their feeling of self-worth.

Phillips said the budget cuts may hurt funding, but people in the community have the ability to pick up the slack.

“We welcome those opportunities in our home, and actually, we seek them out,” she said. “We make sure they get out in the community, and they are not as disconnected.”

Phillips said she knows nursing homes were poorly perceived in the past, but things are different now. She said seniors have the right to live every day to the best of their ability and to expect every day to be the best they have ever had.

A simple card during the holidays can go a long way, but Phillips said a phone call or maybe a visit helps give seniors confidence that they are still involved in someone’s life. They just want to be heard and still feel connected to society.

“It keeps them getting up and going somewhere where people are smiling and happy to be with them,” she said. “They never stop living.”