When Caring Becomes Too Heavy

This one is for the parents. The carers. The ones who rarely get asked how they’re doing.

I’ve spent a lot of time with young people, but right alongside them were the parents. Often tired, sometimes frightened, sometimes just worn down by the daily grind of trying to hold everything together. Especially parents of neurodiverse children, who so often find themselves in a world that doesn’t bend or stretch enough to fit their child.

Carrying Everyone Else

It’s easy to disappear into the role of carer. To put everyone else’s needs first. To become the organiser, the advocate, the one making sure school understand, the one holding the meltdowns at 2am, the one remembering all the tiny details no one else notices.

And in the middle of all that, you can lose sight of yourself.

I’ve sat with parents who feel invisible. Who tell me they can’t remember the last time someone asked about their wellbeing without following it up with “…and how’s your child?”

The Silence of Carer Fatigue

There’s a quiet exhaustion that builds when you’re always the strong one. It doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it’s just a constant background hum: the tension in your shoulders, the tears that only come in the shower, the resentment you don’t want to admit to because you love your child more than anything.

I want to say this out loud: your exhaustion doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re human. And it means you need somewhere to lay it down.

Why Your Space Matters Too

When I worked as a support worker, part of my role was checking in with parents. Keeping them in the loop. Making sure they were seen. I noticed how often they brushed off their own pain. How easily they accepted that their needs came last.

But when a parent has space to talk, to breathe, to feel… the whole family feels it. Healing ripples outward. Children feel the difference when their parent has been heard.

This is why I offer counselling not just for young people, but for parents and carers too. Because your story matters. Your wellbeing matters. And you deserve a place where you don’t have to hold it all together.

If This Sounds Like You

If something in this post makes you exhale a little, like you’ve been recognised, maybe this is your sign.

Therapy doesn’t take away the reality of caring. But it can give you back pieces of yourself you thought were lost.

If that whisper is there — “maybe this is for me” — let’s start with that.

Georgia