*TRIGGER WARNING - MENTION OF SELF-HARM*

Arabella's Story

When we met Arabella, she was struggling with her self-esteem, depressed, and involved in unhealthy friendships.

She has two younger siblings, one of whom has multiple disabilities, and her family rely on her to help run the household. Her parents were open with here about the problems facing the family, including poor finances, their marital issues and other family members’ illnesses; all of which Arabella took on as her responsibility.

Arabella in the past had resorted to self-harming to get through the tough times, and although she wasn’t currently hurting herself when we met, she was worried that she would go back to that unhealthy method of coping.

When we started to work with her, Arabella talked about how she had lost the ability to have fun as she was being asked to take on responsibility for her family.

We coached her to manage her various responsibilities, whilst protecting herself and her siblings. This helped her to start to do things for her own wellbeing instead of just for her family. She wanted a job to give her some independence, so we helped her with her CV. She now has a part-time job cleaning which she loves and which fits around her studies. She is confident she will be able to keep doing this through and after her GCSEs.

When Arabella started with us, she would only talk about herself, using the group as place to unload her problems. Eight weeks on and she is now looking beyond herself, offering encouragement and friendship to others in the group, and helping make the group a comfortable and safe space for all. She no longer resorts to the internet to make friends but has new friends from the group. This is what she says about coming to the group. “Love4Life gives the space to have conversations that help you regain your sense of self.”