Article courtesy of Anna Dutton

Exciting news everybody!

If you didn’t know already I’m just finishing up an internship with a publisher that prints magazines throughout Surrey and SW London and also has an online magazine.

But that’s not the great part. One of the Editors has asked if I would feature in her magazine by writing my own article on mental health awareness. YAY! WOO! AHHHH!

My first piece as a published writer AND for mental health awareness… this is just awesome.

The article isn’t due to be printed for a few months but in the mean time I wanted to get some insight from my readers.

The subject matter will be giving advice to parents who have a teenager/ young adult who is going through some metal health issues of their own, from a young adult’s perspective (me). It’s something that I get asked about a lot. Getting a balance between helping your child without inadvertently pushing them away is so tough to achieve and many parents can feel helpless and sick with worry, especially if the teenager has no interest in sharing.

You’ll know that I’m a big supporter of being open and honest with our families but it isn’t always easy. In light of that I decided to incorporate a Do’s and Don’ts list, inspired by what my parents did that I, as an ex teenager and now (sophisticated) young adult, did and didn’t find helpful so I can give a bit of insight to those parents who are at loss of what to do.

This is where you guys come in. Everyone is unique with their own experiences of mental health issues and have different relationships with their parents so I would love to hear from you on what you thought your ‘rents did well, or as an adult, what you thought you did particularly well to help your child.

Did your parents ask too many questions, or tried to understand when they didn’t? Or did they offer support at home and give good hugs and advice? Is there something that they could improve on, or in hindsight were they just what you needed? Whatever it is, I would love to know!

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The next part is more specific to the local areas that the magazines work in. If any of you can highly recommend a counsellor, therapist or support group that you or a friend has found helpful then let me know.

Finding professional help/ support can be a daunting task when you don’t know where to start, especially one that can be helpful for a teen/young adult. I will be adding in some recommendations to the end of the article to point readers in the right direction.

Can’t wait to hear from you guys, comment or drop me a message.