A WOMAN from Jaywick who suffers from an overwhelming fear of social situations has created a short film to show others the world through her eyes.

Lisa-Marie Belcher began experiencing symptoms of the disorder when she was just 14.

Now 21, she is working with Fixers – a charity aimed at giving a voice to young people - to show other young people that they don’t need to suffer in silence.

The charity helped her to create a short film called Social Anxiety, which is available to watch on video sharing website YouTube.

“I feel like sometimes people don’t realise how serious social anxiety is, and they’ll dismiss it as awkwardness or shyness,’ said Lisa-Marie.

“I want to show how hard it is to have it and how much it affects your life. “It can be hard for me to go out, meet new people and interact. It’s not just about being nervous around people, it stops you from facing the world.”

Lisa-Marie said the social anxiety affected her school and home life.

“At school I was always on my own, I didn’t really have many friends and used to go and sit in the library where it was more secluded,’ she said.

“None of the teachers picked up on it or really knew what was wrong - they thought it was shyness.

“I felt worried, nervous, uncomfortable and scared.’ She plans to share her film on social media and hopes to reach out to others with social anxiety. “I made the film with Fixers because I wanted to make a difference,’ she says.

“It’s helped with my social anxiety, because I’ve been able to try new things and put myself into situations I wouldn’t normally be in and work with new people.

“I’ve been able to be open about my social anxiety and I can talk about it now, whereas before I’d never really speak about it.”

Lisa-Marie said she noticed a positive change after receiving counselling and getting support from Inclusion Ventures, an organisation which works with vulnerable young people.

“I’ve been taking little steps forward and I use things like drawing as a creative outlet which helps me. Now I can talk on the phone to people, which I couldn’t before.

‘I want to show other people how hard it is to have social anxiety, and I want to send a message to those who have it that they are not alone and there is support for them if they want it.”

This project is supported by the Essex Community Foundation.

Click here to watch the short film.