Young Carer’s Story: Supporting a Family Member with Mental Illness

10 July 2025

Every child has the potential for greatness and deserves a safe and stable home to thrive and grow to their full potential. However, for some children, the grown-ups in their life are struggling with significant mental health challenges. In Victoria alone this looks like over 9,000 young people caring for an adult with a mental illness – and that’s just those who identify as a young carer. There are thousands more wondering what support is out there when your parent has a mental illness.

Alison’s story: “I just can’t stress how crazy of a time this was.”

One such carer is Alison, who grew up with a parent experiencing significant mental health challenges and addiction. For years, Alison struggled silently with feelings expressed by many young carers—searching for answers with thoughts like, “my parent is mentally ill, but I don’t know where to turn.” Growing up, Alison did well in school and for her it was an escape from home life… no one knew how difficult things were at home. In her teens, her mum’s mental health challenges resulted in Alison becoming sole carer for her sister, who experienced significant mental health challenges herself.

For Alison, this caring role brought immense pressure and feeling the ‘weight of the world’ on her shoulders and like ‘there was no room to mess up’.  She lost her sense of identity in the role—like she was living someone else’s life instead of her own. It also meant giving up a hard-earned scholarship to a prominent university.

The weight of responsibility in caring for her sister left no room to make mistakes or just be a young person. Most support focused on her sister, leaving Alison feeling invisible.

It wasn’t until she found Satellite that someone finally saw her. A simple, genuine conversation where she was treated like any other 18-year-old was a turning point.

Give a life-changing gift to support young carers like Alison

With your support, more young people like Alison can access the mental health support young people need – and deserve – as they navigate life caring for family members facing mental health challenges.

Your donation is not just a gift — it’s a powerful message that says: “No young person should face this alone.”