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Depression in teen

Taylor1 July 26, 2021 15:29

We have two adopted children, now teenagers. Our AD, now 14 has been self harming for a couple of years, which is quite traumatic for everyone, both my husband and I and our AD have had to put a letter together to get CHAMS involved. She is very depressed alot of the time and we have identified that this is because she will never meet her birth mum, she died when she was 3 and our AD finds this very difficult to deal with. Consequently she cuts, her mood swings are horrendous she is rude obnoxious both at home and at school which is so sad as she is a very bright girl! trying to deal with this on a day to day basis is draining especially when you are trying to deal with everything else the last year has thrown at us. Anyone been in a similar situation. Any advise would be greatly appreciative. Many thanks

*MidlandsRach*

Safia July 26, 2021 21:18

I wrote a long reply and lost it! My son had a lot of problems at that age with depression snd anxiety - was struggling at school and being bullied - ended up school refusing and wanting to kill himself. Camhs really helped - arranged assessments which school wouldn’t do and arranged for him to go part time to learning support and gradually add one lesson at a time. Didn’t work out in the end as school moved the goalposts! However they agreed to pay for him to move to a college course and that made all the difference. Sounds like your daughter would benefit from counselling - and you too as it’s so difficult watching them go through it all and coping with their risky behaviour. If Camhs aren’t able to provide it maybe there’s a voluntary organisation locally who can? Also sounds as if life story work might help if she hasn’t had any - PASW can organise this through the ASF (it’s something they’re happy to apply for generally)

Edited 26/07/2021
chestnuttree July 27, 2021 18:23

I can relate. When one of my daughters is feeling low, she becomes aggressive towards herself and others. Medication has helped a lot. It is not perfect, but overall we are all much happier.

Maybe your daughter could do with some life story work? You can get it funded via the ASF.

I think you can self-refer to the Anna Freud Centre. Maybe that is worth trying?
I also found these free short courses helpful:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/depression-young-people

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/anxiety-depression-and-cbt

Taylor1 August 10, 2021 15:58

I just wanted to say thank you for your comments. I have been away was mean to take both my AS and AD away my AD declined to go in the end staying with her dad! Things haven't improved since we came back and in some ways have got worse. I have been reading on the main pages about a young adopters group called connected so I am going to looking into this first!

*MidlandsRach*

Travelbug77 August 14, 2021 22:14

Can anyone advise how to access the ASF? Do LAS take forever to approve access and can I get access for CAMHS assessments and therapy?

E-mog August 15, 2021 09:04

We accessed ASF through our LA'S Post adoption support. If you Google it for your LA contact details should come up. We have been through the process twice (once for each child) it took about 12 weeks I think for the funding to be processed. It is a good idea to have a clear plan of what it is you want to apply for.

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