Advice on helping bipolar, adhd adult son with life decisions

Oh @Kal I'm sorry you and your son are going through this. It may not feel like it, but you are doing an amazing job. The fact that he opens up to you is huge. You seem to know so much of what is going on for him at the moment - so for him to trust you with that is big.

There are quite a few parents on here, who I'm sure can offer some advice.

What jumped out to me what the fact that people teaching Cert IV in mental health, just don't seem to get it! It seems ironic!

I'm wondering if there's a counsellor attached to the institution or a welfare department who can help with the practicalities / logistics of organising prac? Usually most education institutions have some form of structure internally for students to get support.

It might be a bit too far down the track to change courses, but I wanted to flag that there is also a new Cert IV available in Mental Health Peer Support. Prac would likely still be involved, but you would hope that course would have understanding teachers (goodness I hope so!)

Welcome back, by the way 🙂

Thanks for your supportive comments, hugely appreciated 🙂

Unfortunately the organisation that runs the Peer Support course here gave incorrect information on it so my son missed a place. We (& others) were assured categorically by several staff members including the coordinator, that there were both scholarsip AND paid spots. It turned out once it was too late, that that wasn't true, there were only scholarship ones. We knew of several people like my son who preferred not to have the stress of a scholarship & suddenly found they couldn't do it after all. That's when I quickly phoned the current place he's with & they had places & assured us even the staff had lived experience & all help is provided.

Turns out their lived experience is either anxieties or physical disability (with no mental issues) & their knowledge of true mental conditions is book learning only. On Mon afternoon my son was called into a meeting that day, told if he didn't go he'd be off the course! All because he contacted the support person on Fri about another student who'd flooded all his socal media with really nasty messages, He wasn't taken seriously & as soon as he said if a male did it to a female instead it would be treated more seriously, they panicked & hung up. Luckily he let me go with him & the manager backed down, but she was all prepared to force him off & had he gone on his own, would probably have succeeed. He'd have then had major panic attack & become really stressed & angry & ended up looking like the villian. She actually told me when I asked, that it's not up to them to have anything to do with students' mental problems & that they do more than most by having their support officer (who's lovely, but has anxieties!). All my son wants to do is pass his course & get p/t peer support work helping those like him who don't fit the system. I asked about prac & she said they do more than most by providing a list of places that are happy to take students - didn't think it was their problem if the students with true lived experience don't know how to go about it. And yes...this is a mental health organisation!

On the bright side however, he's now got support from several external people who are helping him find prac, & also advising him on his legal rights & offering to advocate for him. That's at least restored some hope in him as he knows it's not him being weird.

I hope to keep him from becoming adversarial until he's finished his course! Although if they still allow the girl concerned to stay on his class day it may not work. I have a nasty suspicion I'm going to have to get adversarial myself, & I don't have the energy. (Shame my husband isn't still alive, he was brilliant at such stuff). Because he lives on his own I never realised I was a f/t carer till last year when a counsellor pointed it out & that it was no wonder my whole adrenal system was crashed.

Anyway, if you've made it this far thanks for listening 🙂 It feels better just being able to type it out knowing anyone who reads it will understand doesn't it.

Hello @Kal, how is everything this week going for you and your son