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I read this blog and thought it was a raw insight into the world of parents dealing with children with mental health issues, without enough resources to support them.
http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.c...thinkable.html
Here's an article about it:
http://www.theage.com.au/world/anarc...218-2bkjp.html
This is about a child with schizophrenia, but the issues they face are similar - not enough resources to help:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/edge...820-24h4r.html
I read the blog post and The Age article. How can people think that she's unfit to be a mother?! The fact that she recognizes that her son's behaviour is not right and is actually trying to get help before he hurts someone makes her a damn good parent. I'm sure all this people who have lost children in these school shootings wish that something had been done to help the shooters before the incidents happened!
I couldn't imagine going through that. It must be so hard to know that your child, your once sweet newborn is mentally ill.
I just hope that these children (& adults) get the help they need.
I'm in tears after reading the 3rd link. How heartbreaking.
Very sad, I agree that there needs to be a major overhaul to mental health services in America and also in Australia. It doesn't help that mental illness carries with it so much stigma that people are ashamed to admit when they need help, and when they do they are vilified like the blog mother.
As a parent of a very intelligent and highly strung child, this situation doesn't seem like a very big leap from where we are :(
Mental health seems to be an issue not many govt want to deal with. The system in nz is scary. There is no room to help new patients and no resources to deal with everybody they have already.
When they closed most of the mental institutions they screwed up majorly! its left to families to care for people but very little help or education for those people.
Add to that drug related mental health problems...
Not all kids fall into a category. My ds1 is a special boy and without caring mature teachers at school he could be left in the sidelines.
That mother's blog is powerful.
Did anyone else think, where is this kid's father? How can a single parent manage this on her own?
Maybe the discussion needs to go not just to how can we improve mental health services, to how can we help families jointly manage to stay together with these kind of crises? I'm not sure of the figures, but I know where there is mental illness, divorce and family break up is much more likely. Support for those families caring for someone with a mental illness also needs to be a factor.
Hugs Arte xo
I read the mothers blog a few days ago and was in tears. So sad that these families struggle so much to find the help they need. To say that mental health services in Australia (and many other countries) needs to be overhauled is a huge understatement :(
I should clarify - my DS isn't violent at all, but the way he is instantly hysterical about seemingly insignificant things I could see how it could progress to the situation the blogger mum is in.
The mental health resources aren't helpful. I have tried to access help for his anxiety. They decided he was ASD from my description before they met him, then he didn't meet any of the criteria for ASD, the IQ test showed him gifted in some areas but not others so they ignored that and went back to assessing him for ASD. In the end I was left with no actual help for how to deal with any of his behaviours.
What annoys me is that STILL, even after such an emotive article, the public focus is on vilifying the mother for a privacy breach instead of being shocked at the system that forced her into this corner.