Erm... well.... I don't think there is anyone around me who does anything good for my avoidance. I wish there was someone who showed quiet concern, as GreenMoss said, but I'm on my own.

But I do want to share a story that happened over 10 years ago. I had switched schools after I'd become depressed and I still wasn't doing well. On my new school I had to drop a bunch of subjects because everything was too stressful for me. It made me feel like a complete failure. And right after I'd had to make that decision, my class from my new school had to go to my old school for a chemistry class. I was terrified of running into anyone I knew because I was convinced all my former classmates hated me and I didn't want to have to tell anyone about dropping half of my classes. And since I traveled there on my own, I was of course very scared of going into this situation on my own, finding my class etc. I was standing outside of my old school, not seeing any of my classmates, too scared to go inside.... and then this guy who worked at my old school saw me and came outside. He came up to me and said "come on, everyone is already inside" and showed me to my class. And in that moment my fears just instantly went away and I felt so comforted. He wasn't a teacher, I have no idea how he even knew what I was doing there, that I belonged with the group from the other school, but I still feel very grateful to him.

Come to think of it.... Maybe he was the person showing me gentle concern when I still went to that school, at times when I was too sad/scared to go into my classroom and I would just sit in the cafeteria trying to study. He was a good guy.