Skip to main content
Forums Home
Illustration of people sitting and standing

New here?

Chat with other people who 'Get it'

with health professionals in the background to make sure everything is safe and supportive.

Register

Have an account?
Login

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Something’s not right

Tiredmum
New Contributor

bipolar teen- parent support grop?

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a face to face parent support group for teens with bipolar in Perth? I'm struggling to deal with this and looking for support that is specific to bipolar. thanks for any ideas

7 REPLIES 7

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Hi Tiredmum,

Welcome to saneforums.Smiley Happy

 

Sounds like you're feeling pretty worn out. I'm glad that you've come on here to look for support. 

I don't know of anything that specifically addresses what you're asking for. But I know of GROW. They hold and organise support groups for people affected by mental health (for both carers and people with MI). There's also ARAFMI, which is an organisation that specifically provides support to people who care about others with MI. By getting in contact with these services, they may be point you in the direction of a service that might be helpful. If you don't end up finding a support group for bi-polar teen-parents, it can also be helpful just to connect with other carers. 

We're always here to listen and provide support too.

Anyone else there care for/about someone the bi-polar? Got any suggestions for Tiredmum?

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Hi Tired Mum,
This may not be the advice you were expecting but I also live with the role of carer, and it is exhausting. In Victoria where I live I attended Grow Better Together which is a peer support group for Carers of people with mental health issues.
However, I also found one of the most helpful spaces for me was to develop an interest in crafts via my local neighbourhood house. Why was this so? I didn't have any artistic bone in my body (or so I thought), but as a carer, the staff there encouraged me to give some time to myself. Permission as it were to just be me without that 24/7 worry in my head about my child. Those Two Hours became the highlight of my week. Along the way I also met other people in my mosaics class who spoke of their struggles, and really normalised my feelings and gave me so much hope..that life would get better for myself and my child.

Sometimes the best gift is the one you give yourself, caring is exhausting and so many times whatever you say or do will be wrong, according to the person you are caring for. It might feel silly to think about taking the focus off the person you are caring for, but it is true, if you don't care for yourself you won't have the reserves and resilience to care for the person you love.
Being a carer is often a pathway to mental health challenges for the carer, so take care and be kind to yourself. You are doing the best you can and that is all anyone can do....

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Hi Tiredmum,

I'm in the same position with a young adult bipolar daughter in Perth and struggle daily to cope and have not been able to find any help or support anywhere.  Bipolar is tough and terrifying and I could certainly do with some informed support.

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Hi Tiredmum and MamaBlue,

I just read your posts, and it sounds like both of you really need some support. I think Cherrybombs's ideas were really good, and I encourage you to have a look at some of those options.

I was also thinking, you might want to try Carers WA, which should be able to give you some good techniques for you in you caring role. You can find their details here

Does anyone else have some info/support they could contribute>

Hobbit.

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Hi TiredMum,

I am new to these forums, just signed up today. I actually stumbled across them while searching for local support groups for parents of teens with Mental Health Issues. I know this is an old thread but I am wondering if you ever found anything in Perth? I am in Perth too. My son has not officially been diagnosed with BPD but it is something that his doctors/therapists are looking at. We've had a pretty tough 18months or so and while our family know some of what is going on we also feel like we need to protect our sons privacy and not tell them too much. This means that I am not able to talk at length with my normal support network. My husband is the only person I can talk to about everything but as he is experiecning the same difficulties as me I feel like we aren't the best person for each other to unload on. Sorry, so in short, did you find any parent support groups in Perth? Thanks

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Re: bipolar teen- parent support grop?

Thanks @Former-Member I will look into those 🙂
Illustration of people sitting and standing

New here?

Chat with other people who 'Get it'

with health professionals in the background to make sure everything is safe and supportive.

Register

Have an account?
Login

For urgent assistance

 

Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (NT), MIFA(NT) is a non-government organisation providing services for people living with a mental illness and their carer’s and families. 

 

Image credit to Louise Denton Photography

Contact

2/273 Bagot Rd,
Coconut Grove, NT 0810

PO Box 40556,
Casuarina NT 0811

P: (08) 8948 1051
Freecall: 1800 985 944 
F: (08) 8948 2473

Emailadmin@mifant.org.au   

Follow Us