Ok, so I often end up in situations where I’m bridging the gap between 2 people, or one person and a group. I feel like this is quite common, and maybe I’m not searching for the right things, but I haven’t found any advice for it. An example – bringing my gf to a social event and I happen to run into a friend group that she doesn’t know.
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How do I help facilitate these interactions so the individual person doesn’t feel left out? When I’m on the opposing end of the situation I will try to talk to the new person and help them get into the conversation. But, I feel like oftentimes the group doesn’t try to include the new person. Then, it’s my responsibility to help, but I’m at a loss for what to do.
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So let’s say me, my gf, and some friends from class are hanging out for whatever reason. My friends talk about school/class stuff, and my gf feels left out because she’s not currently a student (same age though). I see a few options from here.
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1) Just talk to her – it’s ok but it doesn’t really integrate her into the group
2) Steer the conversation into something that I think she might have something to say about – better, but it relies on me steering it into a good direction and her not being too shy to say something
3) Do the above and then explicitly include her in the convo i.e. “what do you think about this?” – guaranteed interaction, but makes things awkward.
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So what’s the move? Any thoughts/advice?