PARENT STORIES

TRIGGER WARNING: SELF HARM, OVERDOSE I’ve been aware of mental health problems really since my brother was diagnosed with bipolar nearly 40 years ago. Sadly, he died 20 years ago, having been in and out of hospital for 18 yrs. With our own children we’ve been on the mental ill health journey for the past 9 years. Our middle child was the first to outwardly show signs of struggling with her mental health, we sought help from A&E on CAMHS, which was fairly ineffectual for her. Our eldest child struggles with his mental health but was more covert and he has never really been one for dealing with problems head on; he still struggles to this day, aged 26 years old. Our youngest child suffered with poor mental health from the age of 13 years old, self harms, taken overdoses, depression, anxiety, CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) and recently diagnosed with Bipolar. She has spent 15 months as an inpatient on both general admission units and low secure units within the mental health sector as well as general wards. She has received a lot of input from CAMHS and CITT (Community intensive therapy team) trying different therapies, however she failed to truly engage with them. Over 4 years down the line, she engaged with a psychologist, who has been a true turning point in our daughter’s life - and works with her weekly to this day.