Discussing their concerns

• Reading about the questions and feelings young siblings and adult siblings often have when their brother or sister is experiencing mental illness might help you when talking to your child about how they are feeling.
• It can help to ask how they feel and give them an open space to express their worries and concerns.
• If you are unsure of how to answer their questions, you could research it together, or you could contact our advice and information service or take a look around our website to find the information you need.
• You might like to download A sibling's introduction to mental illness (583 kb) and talk through the issues together.
• You could introduce your child to the siblings website and network.
• If your child is aged between 14-25, you could find out more about the Uthink Young Siblings programme where they can learn about mental illness and talk to other siblings about their feelings and concerns, led by our Young People team.

Your other child might find these changes frightening and worry about the changes in their brother's or sister's behaviour. They might also be worried that the same thing will happen to them and it can be useful to explain to them ways that they can look after their own mental health.

Other problems your child might face could include:

• Feelings of pressure to perform at school, or in their career, to "make up for" what their siblings may not be able to do at the time.
• A sense of pressure to be the 'good one', or feel that 'bad behaviour mightget them more attention, for instance if their sibling is 'acting up'.
• Unable to express their own mental health worries or life problems for fear of putting pressure on the family