In their own words: the children of parents with mental illness

‘Young carers said the worst thing was when the mental health services came in like the SAS, carrying off and sectioning the parent. Nobody explained anything to the children,’ says Alan Cooklin, founder of Kidstime Foundation Kidstime Foundation Photograph: Kidstime Foundation

Happy new year readers! You brought 2014 to a close in spectacular fashion, by raising almost £330,000 for the nine mental health charities in our Christmas appeal. To be exact, you have now raised £329,427 in donations, gift aid and match funding. Thank you!

We thought we would start 2015 by hearing from some of the people directly helped by your donations. These young people are supported by the Kidstime Foundation, one of the charities chosen for this year’s appeal.

Juliet, Kirsty and Uzma each have parents who live with bipolar, schizophrenia or severe depression.

‘They won’t come and kill you in the street; they’re just sad inside’

Juliet, 11, speaks about why she thinks people often don’t donate to mental health charities:

‘When people see things about mental illness, they just think it’s kind of scary – they don’t think about the person, they think about what that person might be doing to another person’

‘There is support for parents of children with disabilities – now we need to do it the other way around’

Kirsty, 20, speaks about the responsibility of caring for a parent with mental illness:

‘Don’t deny young carers have that responsibility – that’s just how it is’

‘It’s nervewracking – it puts a strain on you sometimes’

Uzma, 14, talks about why these young people need more support - and donations