As well as being a community artist and musician, I am a mother of two grown up children. My children have been an absolute blessing to me and the joy of my life, however, I have struggled with mental health problems throughout my life and I found parenting excruciatingly hard at times. Not because my children were challenging, but because of the barriers society put in my way. I have had many experiences of well-meaning agencies (schools, doctors, social services) treating me less than well because of my difficulties and because my economical and social status was low. I have decided to compile my experiences and those of other parents to shine a light on the day-to-day reality of parents struggling to keep it together in the face of an unsupportive system which is designed to promote stigma instead of support. First, I will be sharing my lived experience of asking for support from a range of agencies and services and then, I will be interviewing other parents and social workers, doctors and school teachers to find out their views on the issue.

Contact me if you would like to contribute by being interviewed.This can be done anonymously.

My goal is to shine a light on current practices in supporting the family as a whole in a holistic and empowering way which will foster better chances for families to prosper and children to achieve their potential. I am not collecting ‘horror stories’ and I am interested in good practice from schools, doctors and social services as experienced by parents who have lived with mental distress.