As Sarah Sutcliffe* looked at the Christmas lists her youngest children had written last year, despair threatened to overwhelm her. She didn’t even know if they’d have a roof over their heads by then, let alone if she’d be able to afford to buy presents. ‘My husband had left, leaving me with so much debt there was a chance we’d lose our home,’ Sarah, 48, says.
Two of her five kids have additional needs – one at home and one who’s grown up, but still needs lots of support. Sarah’s mental health suffered because of the stress she was under.
‘I’d been suppressing everything and trying to carry on for the kids, but I wasn’t coping,’ Sarah admits. ‘I developed functional tics, involuntary movements often caused by stress, and was…
