And… I’m back.
Three years.
Just like that.
Looking back at my last blogs, I can still feel the emotion and rawness in every word. At the time, I genuinely believed we had reached rock bottom.
It turns out rock bottom had a basement. The last three years have been, without question, the hardest of my life.
I stepped away from the career I loved. I became a home educator. Somewhere along the way I accidentally acquired a working knowledge of SEND law and tribunals that I never asked for (or wanted). Most importantly, I spent every day trying to hold together a little boy who was slowly being overwhelmed by a world that wasn’t built for him.
It’s taken its toll. On all of us. But here’s the important bit…
I’m back.
Not because everything is perfect, far from it. Life with autism, PDA and anxiety doesn’t suddenly become easy. But because there is finally enough breathing space to look back, make sense of what happened, and perhaps help another family who are where we once were.
Over the next few months, I want to tell the story we couldn’t tell while we were living it.
- The school refusal.
- The self-harm.
- The bullying.
- The loneliness.
- The endless meetings.
- The sensory overwhelm.
- The professionals who changed everything.
- The ones who didn’t.
The tribunal that changed our future.
The specialist school that finally felt like coming home.
Alongside all of that, I’ll also be sharing what I learned while completing an MA in Inclusion, something I began simply because I wanted to understand my son better. It gave me far more than a qualification; it gave me language, perspective and, occasionally, the reassurance that I wasn’t completely losing the plot.
These won’t be long essays. Just honest reflections. Some might make you laugh (because sometimes that’s all you can do). Some might make you cry.
Hopefully, all of them will remind someone that they’re not alone.
If there’s a part of this journey you’d like me to write about, let me know. Chances are, if you’re wondering it, another parent is too.
It’s good to be back.
