New Sunderland business aims to “revolutionise” mental health support

A husband-and-wife team from Sunderland aim to “revolutionise” the mental health and wellbeing support available to parents caring for children with additional needs.

Tracey and Dan Huggins spotted a “big gap in the system” after their new-born daughter Delilah was diagnosed with additional needs 11 years ago and their lives changed overnight.

Although healthcare provision immediately kicked in for Delilah, as parents they were left struggling to come to terms with the news and unsure how they would cope with the new pressures on their life.

Dan commented: “We left the hospital holding our four-month old daughter, not even knowing what her life expectancy was. The healthcare provision for the child was clear and a well-run process but there was nothing to support the parents who suddenly face a world of new challenges.

“We had no idea how we’d fit work around clinical appointments, manage to pay the bills, find time to care for our other two children and a multitude of other worries. It was traumatic and we felt very much on our own.”

After years of struggling through, Tracey’s mental health began to decline and she started a blog as a way of making sense of her experiences as a parent carer.

She was “overwhelmed” by the response she received from readers who shared her frustrations and decided to pour her energy into bringing about change by providing the type of support she wished had been available for her family.

Passionate about finding a way to be taken seriously in discussions around mental health, she signed up to earn herself a degree in counselling and began putting herself in places where she could be heard.

And now Tracey’s dreams are becoming a reality with the launch of Choice Wellbeing Service CIC, a new support organisation which will offer parent carers counselling, well-being and fitness activities, help getting into work or a change of career, training, advocacy and more.

Tracey and Dan worked with social enterprise experts from the North East BIC to set up their community interest company at St Mary’s & St Peter’s Project in Springwell and now have a team of 11, comprising parent carers and non-parent carers.

Tracey added: “The first thing we did was turn to the BIC. I knew they’d help us to think it all through properly. The whole team has been behind us every step of the way with friendly advice on how to structure, finance and run the business. They’ve put us in touch with so many contacts who’ve helped us to make things happen.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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