Strengthening the Fabric of Stockbridge “I felt like a failure to tell you the truth. It all started when he locked himself in the garden and tried to hang himself. I couldn’t get to him. What was I supposed to do? It was horrific. “School knew there was something wrong and suggested we went to CAMHS. [The mental health service for young people]. CAMHS had a two-minute conversation with him, in front of me, and said there was nothing wrong and sent him away. School excluded him. “He’d smash the house up if I had no money to give him for his cannabis and I was afraid of what he’d do to me. I’d go to pieces. I couldn’t even stay in my own house. I thought I’d end up dead. “I went to the GP to point me in the right direction so I could understand what was going on. My own mental health was suffering. But he wouldn’t help. Because my son was over 16 he said he’d have to come and seek help himself. “Yes, I felt isolated. Isolated and let down. I didn’t know where to go or what to say.
“Then a friend of mine took me to a meeting of Healthwatch Knowsley. And from there I got appointments with psychiatrists and psychologists. That started the ball rolling with all the tests and my son finally got diagnosed with severe ADHD. That was four years ago. He’s 22 now. “There’s one ADHD specialist for the whole of Merseyside and he’s based in Warrington Hollins Park. At first I’d have to go to Warrington by bus, three buses each way to pick up medication for my lad. It’s in the middle of nowhere. Our doctors couldn’t prescribe it. Now at least they send the prescription to the local chemists.