Mum’s health needs impacting parenting

A single mother of three young children self-referred to us in November 2020. She was in some debt and suffers with her mental and physical health.

She had recently tried to take her own life, following the consequences of the recent lockdown, adding to her poor mental health and mum not having the much-needed support in place, this had traumatised this poor lady and she could see no light at the end of the tunnel. Fearing that she could no longer go on, mum saw no other option, other than to end it all.

Mum struggles daily with her health needs and this can have an impact on her parenting.  Her mobility is extremely limited, and mum must rely on carers to support her. This struggle to complete daily tasks only adds to her worries about the future for herself and her family.

We became aware that mum was struggling to stand at the cooker and cook a meal for the children due to the ongoing pain that her physical condition gives her. We were also made aware that her microwave was unsafe and not fit for use. This poor lady had so much to worry about that we knew we needed to help lighten the load in some way, however small.

We quickly arranged to take out a slow cooker to enable mum to sit comfortably whilst prepping a hot meal for the family and we provided the family with a new microwave too. We hope that the load is a little lighter due to the practical support we have given mum.

When we met mum is became very apparent that she struggles with her physical health daily and she is currently having some home adaptations put in place to make life a little easier. We have supported the family with gifts at Christmas and a food hamper, we have since provided the family with food parcels to ensure that the family were well fed. We will continue to support this family to enable them to be independent of our support and self-sufficient.

With the continued support of our local community, we can provide families with food and much needed items, such as, microwaves and slow cookers, this enables our families to be able to provide their children with a healthy balanced diet.

Can you even imagine facing the struggles that this lady has? Just a little kindness can go such a long way in helping people feel they are not alone in the world.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to help us to continue to support families then please go to our website www.alicecharity.org where you will see a number of ways you can help us to keep helping others ?