Emily's parents separated when she was 10 years old (not her real name). It really affected her mental health, and she feels that she still carries the scars from that time today. So, I asked her for her thoughts and advice for parents who are going through a separation and how they can protect their own child or teen from the stress and trauma that often comes with this really difficult time.

Did they have a lot of arguments?

I didn’t really know, and if they did, it was when I wasn’t around. But I’m very glad they did it away from me because I hated to see them argue. My advice parents is to keep details especially around the separation private from your child. Unless it is essential to tell them certain things, so they have an understanding of what’s going on. Some things about the separation like why they broke up and how it happened were best kept a secret. Probably because at the time it would have changed my opinion about my parents. Also, some of the...

Reposting of Dad.info's interview with our co-founder Joel Sutton.

When Joel’s daughter Jade walked out of a bathroom with cuts on her arms, his world collapsed beneath him.

However, what grew from the pain was his family’s learning how to support their daughter, which they turned into a foundation helping others.

Jade’s struggle

‘We were seeing lots of ADHD traits in Jade, lack of concentration and finding it difficult in classroom situations,’ explains Joel. ‘One afternoon Jade was lying on our trampoline just sobbing. It was a different cry we had never heard before- a gutteral sobbing. It turned out that at the age of 10 she was having a breakdown. She was saying ‘I’m stupid, I can’t keep going at school.’ The stress of trying to keep up with her friends had broken her.’

A private specialist diagnosed Jade with ADHD, and in a bid to support their daughter, the family moved to Devon for a specialist school....