‘I was an isolated young carer. Being involved in a play stopped me killing myself’

A play at the Edinburgh festival, based on real-life experience, is identifying desperate children hidden in caring roles

Trapped between the demands of school and caring for her stepfather and mother with mental health issues, Salford teenager Kerry was several times pushed to the point of suicide.

From the age of 11, Kerry’s weekdays were dominated by a flurry of early morning cooking, cleaning and organisation of medication, before leaving for school – only to return to more of the same, plus regular battles to fill in benefit and mortgage forms that she didn’t understand. For two years no one knew what she was going through, despite her aggressive outbursts at school, until she slumped into depression and came to the attention of the local child and adolescent mental health services.

Related: The crisis of young carers: ‘Going to school is a break’

We know that in Salford there is good support, but down the street in a different postcode there are no services at all

Related: Who Cares review – tear-jerking tales of family role reversals

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TNkrBF