‘If I had support I might still have my son’ laments mum on mission to help others

Now aged 30, it was only three years ago that Alicia was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. With the help of medication, she has since been free of the urge to self-harm.

She successfully completed a college course in floristry. But when her beloved grandfather passed away last year, Alicia was distraught and her behaviour became erratic.

“It hit me really bad,” she said. “I wasn’t able to cope and stopped taking my medication. I went down a bad path. I stayed with my mum, but because of the way I was acting, I was always arguing and getting kicked out, going from house to house.”

Having struggled with her own mental health, Alicia is acutely aware that many children and young people are secretly carrying a similar burden that’s hard to bear.

She has in the last two months channelled her energy into the launch of not-for-profit organisation, Self Care and Mental Health for Kids and Adolescents.

The group’s Facebook page, which directs children, young people and their parents to support services, has received 700 ‘likes.’

There, Alicia lays bare her own experiences, while the five friends who have joined her on the journey – some of whom are mental health practitioners – make themselves available to anyone who is finding it difficult to cope.

“In the last couple of years, I have seen a decline in children’s mental health,” said Alicia, who is determined to make the support organisation a success.

“Even before Covid, there was a 50 per cent rise in child mental health cases. Five, out of a class of 30 children, have mental health issues and a lot of them do not know where to turn.

“Social media and online bullying between kids has a lot to do with it. Kids can be right nasty. Just recently, we have been supporting a couple of youths and sign-posting them to places where they can get the help they need and they have been so thankful for it.

“We also have contact from parents who don’t know how to