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Case Study: Alice and Emily (Part 1)

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7.9
Oh, my God. Hey, guys. I haven’t seen it. Alice. You got one? Hey, Alice. Yeah. Oh, what– you didn’t sit next to me. So look. Yeah, I’ve got my window today. Oh my God, there’s that– All my old things that I had. Simon, Simon, Simon, I’ve got your karaoke I’ve got your karaoke. And chips again? Why have you got that? No. I received Simon’s carry-on. Your mum’s after me, right? Should we go rooms? Because you have, Simon. But before we go, we have to have some house rules. Like take your shoes off, because Mum says. Always the pizza. What do you guys want? Oh, I’ll have a pepperoni, yeah, just a slice of them. Meat things.
40.4
Sarah, what are you having? Hawaiian. Ugh. Oh, Hawaiian. Fruit on pizza. What about not fruit? That’s the best bit. Are you sure you’re be able to come? Yeah, I’ll try. Of course you’re coming. It’s going to be great. Yeah, I’m going to come. OK. So there’s one on Monday morning, that’s the pink one. And then on Tuesday morning there’s another pink one. But in the afternoon, it’s a black one. Alice, on Wednesday morning it’s a pink one, and then in the afternoon, it’s the red and white one. And on Thursday morning it’s the pink one with a white one in the afternoon. Alice. Go on. Then on Friday it’s just the pink one in the morning.
80.5
On Saturday, it’s a pink one in the morning. In the afternoon it’s the white one. Alice, you listening? Yeah. And what did I just say. One on Sunday. No, no, Alice. You’ve got to pay attention because you need to learn this. But why? You do the pills for mum every week. Not for much longer. If I’m going to Uni, I won’t be able to do it. Not if you go to Uni here. Why’d you have to go to London? Because the course I want to do is there. You know how much this means to me. You need to take over. Look, look, I’ll go over it again.
113.8
So the pink one on the Monday morning, then on Tuesday it’s a pink one in the morning and a black one for Alice. I’m meeting up with Darcy, because we’re going to get our outfits for the park on Saturday. Alice, come back. You can tell me again later. Alice. Alice!
154.3
Hey, you all right? Oh, hi. Your mum let me in. Is she OK? She gave me a weird look, like she didn’t know who I was. She’s just tired. What are you doing? They’re my mum’s, she’s not well. Shouldn’t like a doctor do that sort of stuff? I know what I’m doing. Are you sure? It’s a lot of tablets there and if you get it wrong, that could be dangerous. Look, I know what I’m doing. Darcy, look, you’re putting me off. Well, how long will you be, because we’ve got to go to the park. Everyone’s waiting for us. Ten minutes. You go ahead. You sure? Yeah. OK. See you.
192.6
[KNOCKING] Hi, you ready to go? I though you were ready to go. You said you were ready. I said I was nearly ready. Well, we need to go. We need to get that purple dress, the shop’s going to close. What dress? Oh, you know the purple one, that we’ve been trying on like thousands of times. I don’t remember a purple dress. How can you not remember the purple dress. I’ve been talking about it for like ages now. What are you wearing tonight, anyway? I don’t know. How can you not know? Oh, those jeans, buy those jeans. They look great on you. No, I’ve got stuff I can wear. Oh, I need shoes. Black or silver shoes?
241.4
Alice, Alice, you’re not listening to me. Yes, I am. I mean, which shoes? I don’t know. The silver ones, maybe? Black goes with everything though. You know, I’m just going to check on mum, because I think I had her call me. Why not your infant.
262.8
[BUZZ] Everything OK? Yeah, she’s asleep now. But last night she kept waking up and calling me. She’s really anxious. I mean, usually, there’s a sign. Oh, well, she’s sleeping. It’s fine. We can go. We can go shopping. No, I can’t just leave her. The last time I left when she was sleeping, when I got back, she was really upset. Oh, she’ll be OK. She knows you’re going shopping for the party tonight. Alice. You didn’t tell her about the party. She doesn’t like being left on her own. You can’t be here all the time. We’ve been talking about this in ages.
299.7
Don’t you dare say that you’re not coming. I need you. Jimmy’s going to be there, and you know how much I like him. And you’re my best friend there. You promised. I have to stay here now. Emily’s in London and I have to look after mum. Yeah, why did she have to go to London? Could she have gone to university here? That’s not fair. She looked after me and mum for years. She deserves to go to Uni wherever she likes. What’s left for you ever? What about your life? People are worried. You’re not coming out anymore. You haven’t told anyone, have you? Of course I haven’t. People are worried, that’s all. Look, come to this party.
335.4
You need to enjoy yourself more. It’d be good for you. You worry too much. I don’t know. Come on. Jimmy’s friend Arran will be there. I think he likes you. I’m not interested. Oh, that’s the thing now. You never want to do any more. You’re no fun anymore. Just go shopping without me then. I’ll meet you at the party. Yeah, right.
369.3
Hi, Emily, it’s only me again. Hope you’re having a good time in London. Everything’s fine here. I’m just, try to give me a call when you have time. OK, bye. It was way nice, like everything was way swell. Percentiles with Jimmy. Jimmy who? You know the Jimmy I was talking about. No. I think I might have recorded that a little bit. You didn’t. I might have. You recorded that. Say just a little bit. No. You two, no, no, why? There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Peace. Aw. Your first kiss. No, no. Was it your first? No. Yeah. Your last one was in here, too. No, go away. Hey, you all right? Yeah, I’m all right.
415.5
I missed you at the party.
420.9
We’ve got maths now. Right.

In this video, we meet Alice and Emily, siblings who are both living with a parent with mental illness.

Please post your thoughts on this discussion point using the comments section.

  • What might be some of the barriers preventing the sisters from seeking support outside of the family?

  • Why might Alice be struggling to engage with her new responsibilities?

This article is from the free online

How To Support Young People Living with Parental Mental Illness

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