I have seen enough now to understand the urgent emphasis that the poly community puts on having a support network, and that if you don’t have one, you should “work hard to get one”. My partner has been abused and neglected by both sides of their family their whole life (they were the result of a one night stand), they have been taken advantage of by their past “friends” and partners, I’m the first and only healthy relationship of any kind they’ve ever had, they’re very autistic which they didn’t even know until they met me (I’m also autistic) so that plus their past trauma makes them very sensitive to any level of (perceived or real) poor treatment from others, and they’re a shy introvert. They work in the customer service industry because they didn’t get to go to college, so they work early afternoon into the night and don’t have the regular weekend days off. How are they supposed to find a support network? I can look for events on meetup or wherever for them but most everything costs money which they can’t afford, is scheduled at a time they’re working, or is something they wouldn’t enjoy or aren’t interested in, like going to a bar (introvert doesn’t like the behavior of drunk people) or joining a weekly board game group (doesn’t like board games).

Edit: I also don’t have many friends but I have my mom, my therapist, and a few close people. I support my partner as much as I can but I’m just one person and I’m still in college so there’s only so much I can do, plus community is the goal. We both are/ want KTP just don’t have other partners currently. I could mention that they also have trouble even writing a dating app profile bio, but that’s not directly relevant.