Gap year?

Hi,
I'm currently in year 13 and really wanting a gap year before starting university. I got bullied really badly at high school to the point where I would be too anxious to go into school some days, I got put on part time timetable and missed quite a few lessons. I had no support from friends, they all acted like it wasn't happening even when witnessing it everyday, and about 99% of other students in the year treated me like a form of joke, which was disastrous for my self esteem. I managed to keep going and I got all my GCSEs, and now I'm a lot happier at college, but I feel like my confidence has been damaged a lot as a consequence. When people attempted to make friends with me at college I stayed very quiet with short responses and people gave up bothering. I feel like going to university straight away after A levels won't be a good idea for me, I feel like I've barely had chance to reflect on what's happened to me at high school and that I'll struggle a lot at university due to my lack of confidence. I think in a gap year I can have time to finally think about what happened to me and that I can improve on my confidence by working and volunteering for a year, I'm really interested in sociology so any opportunities working or volunteering in a field where this degree would be useful would be really good for me, but at the same time I'm a massive overthinker so in the back of my mind I'm thinking what if I regret applying for 2022-2023 entry? Has anyone else gone on/is anyone else considering a gap year? How did you find it and what did you do? Anything that can reassure me that I'm making the right decision would be really appreciated. Thanks.

Sounds like a gap year for you is a good idea, considering the circumstances - although you may not find much work due to the pandemic.