Mentally ill but caring for someone too

Hi , i have severe mental illness (schizoaffective disorder and complex ptsd, also complex grief ) i am under mental health team and have social care carers for myself but i am also caring for my severly mentally ill 16 year old son who is not yet recieving any help whats so ever, only from me…we have no family except my older son who has severe physical and mental health needs and i have no friends at all…my mental health support has seriously reduced so did my social care despite i had hospital admission for psychotic episode last year, and we are struggling to cope…is anyone else being left like this to just suffer, i keep begging for help and nothing happens

Hi Anna,
I’m sorry to hear you are struggling and not getting enough support. Unfortunately this is something we hear about far too often on the forum and it’s been worse since Covid.

Are your son’s school aware of the situation? Schools are in a good position to push for more support for a family as by supporting the family, the child ultimately benefits. I suggest you contact the school and update them and ask for their support.

Also, your son is a young carer (despite needing care himself) does he access any young carer support or groups? This is also worth investigating.

Melly1

Melly1 sadly it is massive failings by the school, camhs, childrens services etc failing him tht is partly to blame for him being ill…he no longer at school…he did have young carer support yes but they disapeared a year ago due to circumstances i dont want to go into, but not our fault…