PARENTS SOS
THE parents and carers who look after children with special needs often face enormous challenges and pressures – but money raised through The Health Lottery is supporting them in their vital role.
Among those who have benefited is Parenting
Special
Children
(PSC), a small charity that helps families with youngsters facing a range of conditions, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. PSC,
whose children have special needs, has been given a boost with a grant of over £40,000
money raised through The Health Lottery.
These funds are making life
support to parents and carers
as well as a helpline, social get-togethers and advice on health and schools, there are now peer support groups to combat isolation, lift parents’ mental wellbeing – and even save lives when they get desperate.
As PSC founder Ruth Pearse knows, this Berkshire-based daughter, now 22, who was diagnosed with global developmental delay at 18 months,” she says. “We went to a paediatrician and came out of that appointment with a very different view of what life was going to bring and there was no one to talk to. It was a whole new world to navigate and I didn’t want other families to go through the isolation I was experiencing along with the different challenges of parenting.” PSC helpline and support groups manager Charlie Taylor a difference to her: “I started by doing one of the PSC workshops, and it was nice to feel I was in a safe place and that I could say things without people judging me.”
PSC is one of 3,180 grassroots projects throughout Britain helped with funding from money raised through The Health Lottery. When you buy a ticket you’re helping to raise funds for good causes just like PSC, and of course you’re in with a chance of winning a cash prize – £157 million has been won so far, with £120 million raised.
LIVES
The funding has allowed PSC and its support groups to be there for hard-pressed parents. “My babies and I will do anything to support people because they’re all fantastic, brave parents,” says Charlie. “We’ve changed people’s lives. We’ve done bingo nights and quizzes and when we’re able to, we’ll bring everyone together for family fun days, which we wouldn’t have been able to do without that funding.”
Ruth reveals how PSC colleagues have saved parents in desperate straits: “Charlie and Denise, who run the groups, have done a phenomenal job – when families were in the depths of crisis, they were the only ones listening.
“One parent came to a support group and opened up, and Charlie and Denise supported her throughout the night, enabling her to have a team around her the next day to save her life – and that’s no
Charlie Taylor