Stories
By sharing our knowledge and experiences, we can put an end to the myths and assumptions around parental mental illness. If you want to share your own story and help others find out more about parental mental illness, you can submit your blog or your vlog online through the Our Time website.
Perinatal Mental Health Awareness Week
Having a baby is a life changing experience, both exciting and terrifying at the same time. All parents know that it puts enormous pressure on the couple, the family and the mother in particular.
What’s the point of drama in KidsTime Workshops?
The core philosophy of KidsTime Workshops is that children’s resilience to parental mental illness is improved and vulnerability lessened when they: have an understanding of their parent’s mental illness can discuss it with a sympathetic adult feel their experiences are validated by the group The workshop does this in several ways.
A teacher’s perspective
When I first met Ambeya in 2005, I was a newly qualified teacher, aged 23, working in an inner-city London comprehensive. I had completed my training in two similar schools, but perhaps nothing prepares you for that first year of teaching in a school where many young people face such a multitude of personal and social challenges.
The impact of ‘Who Cares?’ in schools
Through the ‘Who Cares?’ project in school, I now recognise myself as a young carer, and that there are others like me. My peers in class now understand what my life is like, and why I am sometimes worried. I used to think that I was nobody, but it’s like ‘Who Cares?’ has given me a voice.
Who cares? We do
People are not always aware of the distinct role of the school nurse. In essence, we take over where health visitors finish, promoting the health and well-being of the school aged population, aged from five to 19 years old.
Five reasons why learning about my dad’s mental illness really helped me
The nature of mental health problems are often that they are confusing and unpredictable and this is especially true for people with bipolar, like my dad. We never knew when his next low or (even more scary) high would be.
‘Kindness’ and what it means for children who have a parent with a mental illness
There are all kinds of prejudice; race, gender, disabilities for example, but an often hidden prejudice is felt by around 3.4 million children who have a parent with a mental illness. Many isolate themselves, assuming (sometimes correctly) that none of their friends or school mates will understand.
Skydiving for Our Time and World Mental Health Day
What perfect timing it was to skydive for Our Time: the day before World Mental Health Day 2016. Like my China trek, words cannot fully express what it felt like to complete a skydive.
A hidden issue
Children who have a parent with a mental illness might not be identified as a young carer. They might not meet the criteria of doing a caring role. Maybe there is another parent or family member seen as the main carer for their parent.
The importance of good relationships when you have a parent with a mental illness
It can be hard enough being a young person but having a parent with a mental illness can bring a lot of added pressures. Often this has happened without anyone realising or acknowledging how much you are caring or doing.
