Our campaign is now complete. 107 supporters helped us raise £3,764.00
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Organised by Parenting Mental HealthWelcome to the first ever Big Parenting Mental Health Picnic. Whether you're hosting your own picnic or joining us online for our Big Wellbeing Picnic you're in for some fun! And you're also raising money and awareness for Parenting Mental Health.
Closed 13/11/2024
The campaign has now expired but it's not too late to support this charity.
Visit the charity's profile"My teenage son started self-harming and having suicidal thoughts. He was unable to attend school and we had no support. Parenting Mental Health has literally saved my family."
PMH is one of the few charities in the UK that specifically helps parents who are supporting a child with mental health challenges and whose needs and impact for positive change are all too often overlooked.
In most cases support is focused on the child and parents are left isolated, unaware of what the best approach is having to try and cope on their own.
The impact on families can be devastating. Friendships, social activities, work, school and family relationships can be disrupted. All energy is focused on the one child with their siblings often feeling neglected. For parents, realising that their child is struggling with their mental health, that they might be experiencing anxiety and depression, suicidal, self-harming or have an eating disorder, is incredibly difficult to come to terms with and accept and they feel totally out of control. They often blame themselves for the struggles their child is enduring. It is the start of an emotional roller coaster, with many finding it hard to cope having nobody to turn to for help and support.
"I joined PMH for my daughter who is 18 in a couple of weeks, she had taken an overdose after self-harming for a long time before I found out. Without Parenting Mental Health I don’t know what I’d have done, it gave me a safe space to rant, look for advice & made me realise I wasn’t alone. When your child is suffering with a mental illness it can be very daunting, scary & lonely. I am a single parent so PMH have felt like my family'"
PMH was founded by Suzanne Alderson who through her own experience of supporting her daughter Issy through depression, anxiety and suicide attempts, witnessed first-hand the total lack of support available for parents and decided to do something about it. In 2016 she set up a Facebook group aimed at addressing this gap in support and now the charity has flourished into an online community with over 44, 000 members from across the world.
"I wish I had found it earlier in our mental health journey. I have cried a river of tears over the last three years, finding PMH has been a life saver for us."
Our current support includes:
- A private digital peer-to-peer support community with the support of more than 44,000 other parents
- Our Partnering not Parenting programme which skills parents to build communication and hope for the future
- Chat and Connect - our online face-to-face service, which helps reduce isolation
- Respite programme - for those whose children are dealing with very long term illness, the chance for a break
- The Be Programme - which builds confidence and agency
- Information and guides - a hive of information in one place, where you're not afraid to ask 'silly' questions
The work we do supports and cares for parents when they feel alone. It equips them to deal with and cope more effectively with situations many of us could not comprehend. And we provide access to free resources, enabling more appropriate support, understanding and help for their child.
"Having experienced the help and support available from mainstream organisations and healthcare professionals and found them to be overstretched, impersonal, and often lacking in knowledge or understanding of issues, finding PMH was such a relief and continues to be my go-to resource."
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