1 in 9 children and young people have a mental health illness that effects their life. This alarming figure has included both of my children and does nothing to show what this really means for the young person and their family. Life has become very different in the last 5 years, with my sons experiencing anxiety, depression, psychosis and social anxiety and this time last year, life had become too much for them; one made several suicide attempts and ended up in a psychiatric unit, the other refused to go to school and was too anxious to leave the house. The photo above is one of my favourites from 11 years ago, it is our love, connection, strength and belief that is getting us through and helping us move forward In spite of everything.

At first we put it down to early teenage behaviour. There was some short term support, but our eldest wasn't considered a priority and after a few visits, services stopped. It wasn't their fault, the services have passionate people who want to help, but are stretched by increasing numbers with a reduced budget and resources. Time and other limits mean they don't always have the ability to keep up with signposting and changes to other organisations. We were told there was nothing out there. That didn't help us and as parents, we felt totally lost and alone.

Things became increasingly harder to manage and last year our eldest was in 'crisis'. Knowing your child wants to end his life is the most heartbreaking moment ever- we had 4 of them within 10 months. We didn't know how to keep him safe or where to go for help. Our younger son was also deeply affected and retreated from the world. As parents we have been on a massive roller coaster of emotions: fear, loss (of our children's childhood), embarrassment, isolation, shame, exhaustion, on constant alert for hospital and police visits, desperation and total helplessness. The impact of mental health illness, for my son, his brother, and our family has been huge. My ex-husband and I work closely together to parent, but we were so out of our depth and at a loss of how to help our children.

As a mum and professional, I have identified gaps in our current support systems and I am passionate about not wanting any other parent to be in the position of not knowing if they will see their child alive again. I want to make sure that no young person feels so alone, lost and helpless that they feel the only way they can manage what is happening to them is to harm themselves, numb themselves with alcohol or drugs, punish themselves or ultimately try to end their life. I want them to be able to openly ask for the support and help they need without shame or embarrassment.

I have felt angry and sad that my son's have had to go through this. It wasn't necessary. Despite meeting so many passionate people, working in services, we didn't even know they existed until it was too late. Signposting, early identification, and early help is crucial.

We are not on our own, I have met so many other families in a similar situation.

My aim is to bring all local services, organisations, families and professionals working with young people together, to hear what young people are saying about what they need and to move forward, together. This is our 100 Voices Project. We will work with 100 young people to share their experiences/voice in a range of creative ways, led by experienced youth worker and a range of skilled creative facilitators.

I am organising a youth led event in Trafford called RESET (September 11th 2019 at Hotel Football) for parents, carers and professionals working with children and young people. RESET will bring services together to raise awareness of early identification, intervention and help. RESET will share the voice of up to 100 local young people to break the shame and stigma attached to mental health via an interactive youth exhibition. RESET will inspire and show how young people can succeed despite their mental health challenges. RESET will be a platform for forward thinking professionals in health, education, social care and youth services to talk about different approaches and prevention. RESET will offer families a support network of family mentors from Calm Connections.

RESET will make a real difference to so many families, children and young people, in Trafford and beyond. I want to make sure that everyone has free access to the young peoples exhibition and marketplace of services.

I am currently doing this by myself, with a few kind hearted volunteers, all unpaid and without a budget. We do however have the passion, experience and conviction to make this a very successful event. We want to start working with young people and promote the event now. We are asking you to donate anything that you can afford, to make this happen.

ALL money raised will go towards working with young people and making RESET a great success, driven from the experience of my family. It will help to establish creative sessions for young people, go towards the cost of the venue hire, help raise awareness of youth mental health and provide posters, flyers and promotional resources for the event.

We will work in partnership with VCAT and Make A Pathway to find further funding, sponsors and contributions towards the funding of the event, the exhibition and 100 young voices project.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting RESET.

If you can't donate and/or would like to get involved, please contact me. You can follow our progress and book tickets at the Calm Connections website.