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"Talk to them", you say:  "Talk sense with them", how can you do that?

I too have experienced times when I could not make sense of what my son was saying, never mind what I was trying to get across to him.

No-one is saying that there are any quick fixes here. Honestly, it may take weeks or even months to get a particular point across, but when it does hit home it is well worth the effort.

Keeping in mind the type of illnesses you are dealing with there will more than likely be small windows of time where you will be able to open up some sort of discussion.  Sometimes these windows of opportunity are so small, and there can be so many mental health issues to be discussed, that you will have to prioritise them. 

Keeping a diary or notepad, at least, of issues to be discussed helps relieve some of the stress because you know you have it on paper and it wont be forgotten in all the turmoil.

Our ebook Mental Illness – coping strategies for the carer is full of tips and hints for the carer so don't feel alone, many people are going through what you may be going through.

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED STAMPING TO CREATE COOL PAGES IN YOUR SCRAPBOOK

I used to wonder about this technique, but I saw a page that had two sizes of the same flower stamped onto the scrapbook page, and they had been coloured in to create a wonderful flower garden effect on the page. 

I can imagine the same technique used with a stamp like a butterfly for example.  Just one stamp, but colouring it to produce a series of lovely pictures.

101 Tips for Starting Scrapbooking with Success has many ideas for creating interesting pages too.

When you are a carer of a person with a mental health problem that is not too much under control yet,  you may wonder what has struck you when everything is rolling along nicely and then all of a sudden all hell lets loose, and it does.  After it has all happened and you sit back after picking up the pieces you think, "Thank God that it is over!"  There will be a next time but let's discuss how we can get better at reducing this problem.

Over time you start realising that to a certain degreee, there is a pattern there.  Depending on the illness you will need to watch for these in your own particular circumstances.  In my case it was watching for difficulty in communication because my son was so distracted with voices, and the other was his stress levels, especially if he started to get agitated.  When he started pacing I just knew it was going to be a very tough few days ahead.  that was the time I had to act quick and get on to my mental health support team.  It is essential for yourself and for the one you are caring for,  that you act quickly and get help to get the problem back under some sort of control.

As time goes along and you start experiencing repetition in the problems, you can start looking for early warning signs of illness in the one you are caring for.  When you, yourself, have a handle on detecting these signs, you will be able to discuss them, during calmer times, with the person with the lived experience. 

We will discuss this at a later date, but it is in my ebook Mental Illness – coping stategies for the carer along with a huge amount of helpful tips for coping as the carer but also helping your loved one move through the rough times.

As a carer of a mentally ill person, especially a loved one, you will go through one of the biggest learning curves you will ever face.  Unless you have experience in seeing this illness before it will be a real eye opener. 

In my writings I take the positive, in that I believe in Recovery.  In saying that, I know that this is not always true and I have heard some heart wrenching stories along the way, but on the flip side of that statement I have seen, and experienced with my own son, many people with a mental illness become quite well and live very fulfilling lives.

Keep up with my blog, and please join in if you wish, as many tips and thoughts are put here for you to understand and share.

If you want to get a view from a carers perspective, and loads of tips to help you cope, may be our ebook Mental Illness – Coping Strategies For The Carer go to http://ebooksnowonline.com/family/mental-illness-coping-strategies/