From flowers to chocolates, many people will look to spend Valentine's Day with the ones they love.
“It's just a chance to tell people that you love them," Lucy Matthews from Idlewild Floral said of the holiday.
However, according to Coraline Robinson, a licensed therapist and director of Balance Treatment Center in San Luis Obispo, the day can make people who are depressed or lonely feel even worse.
“It makes them feel like they're not good enough or they're not doing something right because they're not in partnership with someone or they're not receiving that affection or intimacy," she explained.
Roberto Cueva with Transition’s Mental Health Association in San Luis Obispo said they are currently fielding many calls through their hotline that "surround loneliness" from people who don’t have companions to help support them through hard times or that they are counting down the days til Valentine’s Day searching for support.
“I have felt lonely on Valentine's Day, but being in college, last year I spent it with my friends and this year I'll probably spend it with my family. They're coming into town," Cal Poly student Isabella Yulik said.
In 2023, approximately half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness with some of the highest rates among young adults, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, but Robinson says there are ways to change that feeling.
“Connection. When we're depressed, when we're anxious, the last thing we want to do is connect, but it's what we need to do," Robinson said.
Robinson explains that finding social groups or friendships is the key to getting out of that pattern of self-isolation even if it is hard.
“It doesn't have to be partnership. It doesn't have to be a spouse or what's traditionally seen in the commercials in, in our society. It can be friendship, It can be a group,” Robinson suggested.
“But I think every day should be treated like Valentine's Day in the sense that we should just be nice and loving to each other all the time," Yulik said.
Transitions Mental Health Association Central Coast Hotline: Text or Call 800-783-0607
Balance Treatment Center of SLO: 805-322-4400
