MINDARIE woman Margaret Cook knows very well the difficulties facing children of parents with a mental illness.
She draws on her experience of life with a mentally ill mother to inform, educate and support others in similar circumstances through the group COMIC (Children of Mentally Ill Consumers) WA.
Margaret (65) and her sister Pauline Miles convene the group, which is offering its inaugural parent peer-support worker training course in March in conjunction with the Mental Illness Fellowship of WA (MIFWA).
The Lotterywest-funded course will give parents with a mental illness the skills to help others with similar problems cope with everyday life. The workers will be trained and available for employment with agencies and organisations in the mental health sector.
“Once trained, the support workers will walk beside parents with a mental illness, helping them with activities such as household chores or shopping but not doing it for them,” Margaret said.
“The parents will get unique support from someone who has been there (before).”
Clients may be suffering from such mental ill health as bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, depression or post-natal depression.
Margaret has been working voluntarily in mental health advocacy and consultancy at state and national level since recovering from her own mental health problems.
“I grew up with a parent with a mental illness and there was no available help or support and when I became mentally ill myself, there was little assistance that I knew about.
“It took me years to recover, and it is only in the last 15 years I have turned to helping others, which has been very empowering,” she said.
“While I was doing this work, I kept thinking about children of parents with mental illness – no-one ever talked about them, they were like the silent family accessory.
“I gradually started lobbying and raising awareness and I had the good fortune to come across two girls running COMIC in South Australia. We adopted the name and launched it here two years ago.
“One of our main roles is to ensure all children of parents with a mental illness receive information and education about mental health, are supported and do not feel isolated.”
Margaret said it was equally important to support parents with mental illness so they could care for their families.
Call the Mental Illness Fellowship on 9228 0200 or Margaret on 0413 487 045 to apply for the course, which is from March 15 to 19. Travel and accommodation funding is available for country residents. Applications close on February 1.