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Grace creating a Brighton5 Halloween look for Elsa

Happy weekend!

This week we got a few of our teens and pre-teens together to create a special #HallowTeen film that celebrates their creativity and got them thinking outside the usual focus on the “perfect body image” and “Instagram Face” (read this eye-watering article on the BBC News website if you want to know more!) – and we had great fun!

As Brighton5 teen Chloe put it, “Halloween is a chance to dress up how you want and to be who you want be, and not be judged. You can totally experiment with different looks and have fun.”

Look out for the film next week on our social channels!

Beren with a Brighton5 Halloween makeover

Biba with a Brighton5 Halloween makeover

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It is estimated that more than one in five girls self-harm in the UK. One parent details the journey from the realisation that her teen was self-harming, through the maze of bureaucracy to try and get help. 

It’s incredibly brave to put your private life out there in the public eye, but our blogger  mum has done just that in the hope that others will see that they’re not alone. After last week’s post was published, she contacted us to say: “I felt so alone and didn’t want to talk to others for fear of making things worse with my daughter which just adds more pressure. It’s like walking on eggshells on top of broken glass whilst carrying the world on your shoulders. So many others must feel the same, so it’s a great that Brighton5 are helping to make a difference.”

Links to organisations that can offer help and support are listed at the bottom of this post.

Chapter Two: Getting help

My daughter had cut herself a few times by the time I went to the doctor for help. Each time she did it, I hoped it would be the last time, but after a few times I realised that wasn’t going to be the case and that we needed help. I’d previously been to see a doctor about her as I was worried about her behaviour. She didn’t seem able to control her emotions and would go from states of high anxiety into angry and violent outbursts. She would lash out at anything or anyone nearby and then hate herself afterwards.  She was a young developer and I thought that it could be due to hormonal changes, but did wonder if she was suffering from anxiety or depression.

I was told by the doctor that it was just part of growing up, and anyway, there wasn’t any help available. At 12, she was too young for one type of help and too old for another. Each time I visited, I left the doctors feeling frustrated and thinking that I was a terrible parent for not being able to deal with this.

After she had self-harmed a few times I visited the doctor again. I was told it was very common nowadays. They said that CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) get so many referrals and, yet again, said that she was too young for the type of help that was offered.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so I started to do my own online research into where to get help. I sought out a counsellor, but my daughter wouldn’t open up and just told them that everything was fine and she refused to go back.

I decided to speak to my daughter’s school about it. At first I was scared, thinking that the school would judge me as a bad parent, but it was the complete opposite. It was then that I realised how many children were self-harming. The school explained that it was more common in recent years, but this didn’t mean that my daughter, and us as a family, shouldn’t get help and support. The pastoral leader I saw was amazing, so reassuring and full of advice about where I could go for help. She suggested I go back to the doctor and try and get a CAMHS referral. For the first time in ages I felt that I was getting somewhere, and that my cries for help were being taken seriously. I felt a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders knowing that someone at her school would be keeping an eye on my daughter.

I went back to the doctor. By the time I had the appointment things had escalated. The self harming was becoming more frequent and there was also an incident where my daughter had climbed out of a window and said that she wanted to kill herself. The suicidal talk was cropping up more and more often and I was despairing. I was worried that I was attending the doctor’s appointments alone; my daughter wouldn’t come as she didn’t want to talk about it or seek help. Without her there, I wondered if I would be taken seriously. Would they want to see that she was ready to seek help?

This time I saw a different doctor. I explained everything and by this point was exhausted. I virtually broke down in the doctor’s room. I asked “at what point will we actually get help? When she’s actually killed herself and it’s too late?!” This time I got the referral to CAMHS and I felt a glimmer of hope.

Read more from our blogger mum’s story:

Where to get help and advice

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It is estimated that more than one in five girls self-harm in the UK. One parent details the journey from the realisation that her teen was self-harming, through the maze of bureaucracy to try and get help. 

We will follow mum and daughter’s story over the next few weeks. Links to organisations that can offer help and support are listed at the bottom of this post.

Chapter One. “Mum, I cut myself”

I will never forget that day. My daughter came into the room and said, “I’ve cut myself”. “Oh,” I replied, “how did that happen?” She looked at me and paused and said again more slowly. “I cut myself”.

Normally my daughter, who is 12, looks much older than her years but at that moment in time she looked like a young child again. Her face was such a mixture of confused emotions; pleading for help, plus embarrassment and perhaps shame mixed in as well. I remember that moment so clearly. It was like when you watch films and they freeze the frame.

Reality kicked in and I went into practical mode. I remember telling her not to worry and that we could clean it up. It was a large cut on her arm. Much later I found out she’d done it with a pair of kitchen scissors. We talked about why she’d done it and she started to cry. “I don’t know” she said and became even more upset.

I tried to reassure her and told her everything was fine, and I just sat hugging her whilst she wept.

I look back at that moment in hindsight and realise I am lucky. Obviously, I wish my daughter didn’t feel the need to harm herself. But I have discovered that so many parents find out much further down the line or worse, that many children self harm without telling anyone or feeling able to ask for help. I feel lucky that my daughter could let me know what she had done.

Later that night I cried and cried. I spent the whole night worrying and asking myself questions. Why had she done it? Was this all my fault? Why did she feel the need to hurt herself rather than come and talk to me? Was this a one off? Was this an attempt to kill herself? Would she try and cut herself again that night? What was going through her mind when she was cutting herself? What had happened to her to make her want to hurt herself in that way?  Should I have contacted someone for help? Who do you contact for help? Would other people blame me?

As a parent I had always felt that I could solve my children’s problems. This was the first time that I felt helpless and didn’t know how to help her. We both needed help.

Read more from our blogger mum’s story:

 

Where to get help and advice

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Hello! Here’s a quick Brighton5 Crowdfunder update and some really useful links to organisations that have helped us along the way this week.

We have raised £4,250 of our target in our first week, which is hugely encouraging! We’ve been busy ticking off things on our ever-growing lists – I have post-it-notes everywhere! So far this week, we’ve edited a new blog that will be up on makegoodtrouble.co.uk from Friday this week. It’s from a parent of a self-harming teen and follows her journey from the realisation that her teen is cutting herself to getting through the maze of bureaucracy to try and get help. It’s a heart-breaking read but our anonymous contributor wants to get the message out there to anyone in the same position that they’re not alone.

We are also about to update our Crowdfunder with a new 2-minute video talking about what it’s like to be a worried parent and why Brighton5 is going to make a difference. If you haven’t yet, please visit our page and donate! Every penny makes a difference, and we want to encourage everyone to give as little as £1. Go on, tick it off your to-do list and pledge today!

In what feels slightly awkward (and so un-British!), we have been tapping into every contact we can think of for advice and to ask folk to help promote Brighton5. And hurray! Our efforts have been rewarded…

The Do Lectures featured us in their wonderful weekly newsletter– if you don’t know them, they’ve built a brand around inspiring people to “Do amazing things”. They hold workshops and talks as well as produce gorgeous books on everything from storytelling and business advice to growing veg and making jam! After featuring in their newsletter, we’ve had people contact us from all over the country offering to help, as well as tweets from people in their network.

We were overwhelmed to get an email from Shirley Conran, OBE (yes, *the* Shirley Conran!) who sent us a fabulously long email full of really useful advice on how to grow Brighton5 and who can help us along the way. She is a real inspiration to us and she’s still working hard to help people who suffer from maths anxiety – which particularly affects girls and women. Her Maths Anxiety Trust website contains a wealth of useful information for students, parents and teachers.

We also had an email from Justine Roddick – her mum, Anita Roddick, started The Body Shop many moons ago in Brighton’s North Street and Brighton5 founder Daisy met Justine when she worked at their head office as a graphic designer – Daisy’s first job after college! Justine is now living in the USA and is working with charities support help teens with empowerment and sexual health. She has linked us up with people in the UK who might be able to help us.

And next week? That’s for our Monday meeting where we’ll have a quick group hug and then it’s out with the post-it-notes…

Brighton5 teens on Brighton beach