Our beliefs are that we want every child in Suffolk who lives with Parental mental health illness to feel supported, listened to, given the opportunity to be able to learn and understand more about the illness, and who they can turn to when feeling scared, lost and worried about their parent.

Our approach is to train staff within young people's settings to be able to support these children and their families, to have a good understanding of mental health and to be a trusted adult helping the child make sense of their feelings, giving the parent and young person a safe space to have those conversations that matter.

Mental illness is a health condition that involves changes in emotion, thinking, and/or behaviour.

Signs that a child might need extra support include:

Being worried about their parent or carer’s condition.
Taking on a caring role for parents and other family members.
Putting the needs of their family above their own.
Having negative feelings about their parent’s condition.
Finding it hard to make friends, feeling isolated or being bullied.
Not feeling able to talk to their parents or another trusted adult about their worries.

We believe by educating children about parental mental health problems it will offer the following benefits:

1 Increase the child’s resilience.
2 Challenge the child’s misconceptions about mental health.
3 Increase the child’s understanding and empathy for their parent or carer.
4 Improve communications between the parent/carer and child.

Want to know more about the training we put on?
here are few Frequently Asked Questions answered:

Cost: free
Location: to be agreed with Suffolk#WeMatter and the organisation (either face to face or online
How many participants: Min 2 max 14
Workshop duration: 2.5 to 3 hours
Workshop timings: to be agreed between SWM and the organisation
Do I need to bring anything? Yes, pen and notepad