Story
I started Parenting Mental Health in September 2016 because my daughter, Issy, was depressed and suicidal and I simply couldn't find the support, understanding or skills to help me to help her or to help myself through such a dark and devastating time.
I sat on her bedroom floor on suicide watch and realised I couldn't be the only parent going through this. And I decided that if we made it through, I'd make it my mission to ensure no other parent felt as isolated, judged or ill equipped to deal with this extraordinary experience. And that mission gets me out of bed every day: I want to support and skill every parent to support their child and themselves through the challenges of poor mental health.
We do this through our digital community, through Listening Circles and Peer Mentors. We skill parents through the training courses we run on 'Partnering not Parenting', the approach I devised when Issy was ill, and through my book Never Let Go - How to Parent Your Child Through Mental Illness.
Parenting Mental Health is now a registered charity that helps tens of thousands of parents to successfully navigate each stage of their child's mental illness and to become stronger and more resilient families.
I'll be dragging myself around London to raise funds so we can offer our support, training, resources, interventions, counsellors and education to parents for free.
We know what we do makes a difference - if you'd like to see how, we were featured on the BBC's The One Show here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015q1y/the-one-show-24032022
Thank you for any donation you can make, any share or support you can give.