MENTAL HEALTH IN YOUR FAMILY
If someone in your family is mentally ill this section is for you.
It might be your mum or dad, brother, sister, grandparent who is not well.
Many people feel worried or frightened when they hear words 'mental illness'. This is probably because they don‟t understand what it means or they have heard stories which are untrue.
Just as people's bodies can become unwell, people's minds can become unwell too. Mental illness is more common than you might think.
What is mental illness?
We all have to deal with different kinds of feelings and emotions and people feel and react to different things in different ways. It is normal to feel stressed, anxious or lonely from time to time, or that no-one understands us. For some people these feelings are too much to deal with and they can‟t get on with their lives by going to school or work.
When our lives become as difficult as this, we have mental health problems. The problems can be mild or severe. We can get better quickly or sometimes they last a long time and we will need a lot of help.
What is clinical depression?
Clinical depression is very different from just feeling low and that things are too much. People who have clini-cal depression feel very miserable or hopeless, sometimes for weeks or months. They feel tired all the time and find it hard to concentrate. They often do not feel up to doing normal things like getting dressed or making something to eat.
Sometimes mothers get depressed after a baby is born. This is called "post-natal depression‟. This can make doing ordinary things very hard, for example, looking after the baby or other children.
What are anxiety disorders?
Some people become overwhelmed by their fears and thoughts, which can lead to the development of anxiety disorders. They may have:
Phobias : severe and unreasonable fears; eg. they are afraid of going outside, going to work or school or of being in small spaces like a lift or crowded bus, or of being in large spaces.
Obsessive compulsive disorder: they feel they have to repeat things over and over again, such as washing their hands or checking the oven is switched off, or have thoughts they can‟t get out of their mind.
Eating disorders: they feel so worried about the shape of their bodies and frightened of losing control of their lives that they eat to little (anorexia nervosa) or eat a lot/binge and usually vomit afterwards (bulimia nervosa) which badly affects their physical health too. We will tell you more about eating disorders in our summer „Living up to‟ edition.
If you would like to learn about any specific mental health condition or have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us. We always here for you and always happy to answer all your questions.
You can also find above information on Young Minds website: youngminds.org.uk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teens page
What we have done. Time flies and we are in the summer holidays already! It was good to spend some time together during the bowling in May Half Term—Amyn you improved finally! Also we enjoyed time at our Youth Club, The Basement. Thanks to Leonardo, Music and Art student from Kingston University we had two great sessions: firstly creating music and another about graffiti and street art. It was good fun and pretty interesting to see how good you are iat drawing!! Mind you only Kayman was good at the music part, Jessee preferred not to take a risk. Shame, would be great to hear you singing, Jessee! :-)
We would love to keep meeting in the Basement, but not many of you attend and we may have to stop meeting there during the winter. If you would like to still keep the Basement as your place please let me know and we can see if that still possible. if you have other ideas about how and where to meet please let us know too. We want the best and the most convenient place for all of you!
Look forward to hearing from you and seeing you over summer!
Remember we are here for you if you have any questions, need a chat or advice.
Do not forget this website too, it‘s extremely useful!
www. youngcarers.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGIC PUZZLE
1. Jimmy‘s mother had 4 children. She named the first Monday. Named the second Tuesday. the third is named Wednesday. What is the name of the fourth child?
(ANSWER AT BOTTOM OF PAGE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activities this Summer 2010!!!!
FULHAM FOOTBALL HOLIDAY
Fulham has kindly made us one of their special charities and have given us free places to attend their summer courses. Dates to be confirmed!
If you are interested in attending any of the Summer Activities please get in touch with Monika or Diane.
Monika or Diane, The Young Carers Project on 020 3031 2756 or 020 3031 2754
or email us at Youngcarers1@kingstoncarers.org.uk
or Youngcarers2@kingstoncarers.org.uk
A:Jimmy.
|
