Parenting Mental Illness - The Haven

Hi all, I posted this is The Haven's forum but I thought it would be good to link it here. We're focusing on an aspect of parenting that is specifically involved with parenting children and adults who live with mental illness.

Parenting Mental Illness

"This category was created to give parents and caregivers, of any age ‘child,’ the support and information they need. Hopefully it will enable folks to share concerns about and experiences with their children, or persons for whom they are caring, who are dealing with some type(s) of mental illness.

When my child’s mental health took a turn for the worse, early in high school, it came as a complete shock to my husband and I. We were extremely worried, completely ignorant, confused, and did not know where to turn. There was no plan that we could follow, no one who was telling us what our choices were, and we had many questions.

I think our very mature child was even more confused about what was happening. So, when our child was hospitalized (in a horrendous place), we told no one, in deference to our child’s privacy, as the stigma was horrible and no one talked about it at all. We were totally isolated. It was also very hard on our younger child to not be able to tell friends about what was happening, and get their support. It wasn’t easy for anyone in that scenario.

That was many years ago. Our child has had many different treatments, medications, hospitalizations over the years, but only recently has opened up about living with mental illness. So, now, we may also discuss it with folks other than family. This is why I encouraged The Haven Retreat to include parents in their very successful peer support, so we can end the isolation of parents, too."

One of The Haven's Discord servers is dedicated to helping everyone, regardless of diagnosis or not. The Haven Retreat is a place, in particular, for parents to discuss the lives of their mentally ill children. If you'd like to join, click on the link below. If you like to join the conversation, click the link above.

The Haven Retreat