When my lovely friend Jo and her work wife Chloe said they were doing a gold themed jumper for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month I was delighted. Not just because it would raise awareness and funds for the Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group, but because our experience of childhood cancer fits so well with their ethos. An experience with cancer is about more than chemotherapy and the physical effects, it's a mental battle too. Not just for the patient, but the whole family. It's about love and support from others, learning you are not alone and how much difference a simple act of kindness can make in the darkest of days. It's realising you don't need to be strong all the time. That it's...
Crying. That’s the first thing I remember about when Gary told me he thought he had Depression. It was August 2015 and he was driving home from work, pulled over and called me, crying from inside the car. When he got home, he told me that he often felt this way, unexplainably sad and angry and didn’t know why. I made him an appointment with the GP and within a few weeks, there it was, the diagnosis of “Severe Depression”. He was signed off work and given medication and referred to an online self help CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) course. That month that he was off was tough. We had an 18 month old baby, I was back at work...
Supporting your child to open up: TLC Worried about your child’s emotional or mental health? Not sure where to begin in even beginning to address things. Before you have ‘the conversation’, ask yourself these 3 key questions; an easy way to remember these is using the abbreviation TLC; T is for Time: is this the most appropriate time to have the conversation? L is for location: is this the most appropriate location to have the conversation? C is for Child: is this right way to talk to this child? Time of conversation The timing of your conversation is hugely important. Make sure you set aside some time for it. Don’t rush your child. Give them your full attention. Clear your...
We have been donating to the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families’ Schools Outreach Service since 2017. Please see an account of a real life case study below. It's stories like this that helps you realise there are real people needing real help, and wonderful charities like Anna Freud are there for them. In October 2017, when Matthew* joined the family group at school, he was struggling with his behaviour. Despite being highly intelligent, funny, and thoughtful, he found it hard to listen to his parents and teachers. He was impulsive and called out in lessons. In the playground things were also difficult. Matthew would often get into trouble and be given 'red cards', which made him feel even worse and...
“Pull yourself together, the kids will see you” “Don’t cry in front of the children” “Come on, you’re a parent - you’re supposed to be the strong one”. Ever been told something like this? Ever told YOURSELF something like this? Well, I’m calling bullsh*t on every phrase with a similar sentiment. I say this because as a parent myself, those phrases plagued my internal dialogue for years. I felt the pressure to be 'okay' all the time. And because no-one can be okay all the time and I'm a wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve kind of gal, I’d inevitably explode/implode/melt into a puddle of hot mess when the going got tough. Post meltdown, convinced that I'd broken my kids, I'd torture myself for falling short of my...
