What happens when a young person can no longer live with their parents and someone within their wider family steps in?

Bobby Dean shares his own experience of going to live with his grandparents as a teenager and the stability they gave him at a difficult point in his life.

Years later, Bobby discovered there was a name for what his grandparents had done: kinship care.

In conversation with Humphrey Hawksley, he explores the pressures facing kinship carers, the importance of early support, and what can happen when families are left to manage complex situations without enough help.

They also discuss support for young people, unpaid carers, education, mental health, social care and why investing earlier can help prevent much greater difficulties later.

A conversation about family, responsibility, support and what can happen when someone is there to step in at the right moment.

Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families.

Explore all episodes and resources:
https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk

Listen and follow:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks

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For decades, depression has often been explained as a chemical imbalance in the brain. Professor Joanna Moncrieff argues that the evidence simply doesn’t support that explanation.

In this episode of Family Talk, Lucy Johnston speaks with Joanna about the serotonin theory of depression, what antidepressants actually do and why Joanna believes their effects may be better understood as altering or blunting emotions rather than correcting an underlying abnormality.

They discuss the origins of the chemical imbalance theory, antidepressant effectiveness, emotional numbing, withdrawal, sexual side effects and long-term use.

Lucy also challenges Joanna about one of the most difficult areas of the debate: antidepressants and young people. What happens when a child or teenager is severely depressed? What about suicide and self-harm? And if medication isn’t the answer, what should we actually do?

Joanna also responds to criticism of her research, considers whether some forms of depression could have biological components, and explains why she believes mental health treatment needs a fundamental rethink.

The conversation broadens into the pressures facing people today — particularly young people — including education, employment, housing, financial insecurity and anxiety, and asks whether society has begun to medicalise some of the ordinary distress that comes with difficult lives.

A challenging and thought-provoking conversation about how we understand depression — and what that understanding means for the way we try to help people.

Please note: This episode includes discussion of suicide, self-harm and mental health difficulties.

Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families.

Explore all episodes and resources:
https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk

Listen and follow:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks

Follow on social media:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks

Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates:
https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk

Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

Mirela Zoltan spent the first three years of her life in an orphanage in Romania before being adopted and taken to the United States.

What followed was a childhood marked by disrupted relationships and repeated moves through adoptive, foster and residential settings.

Mirela was frequently seen as a child with challenging behaviour. Looking back, however, she describes something much simpler underneath it: she wanted to be loved, wanted and listened to. She needed connection and a sense of belonging.

Then she met Elizabeth.

After being let down repeatedly by adults, Mirela didn’t trust Elizabeth’s promise that she would help find her biological family. She tested her, pushed her away and waited for another person to leave.

Elizabeth didn’t.

Mirela credits that relationship with changing her life. Elizabeth stood by her, believed in her, validated her feelings and eventually helped her reconnect with her biological family in Romania.

In this deeply personal conversation with Humphrey Hawksley, Mirela describes what her experiences taught her about trauma, behaviour, trust and belonging.

Danny Henderson from Care Visions joins the conversation to reflect on Mirela’s experiences through the lens of contemporary residential childcare and relational practice.

Now working within the care system herself, Mirela has a clear message for professionals supporting children and families: listen to what people are communicating, including through their behaviour. Validate their feelings. Meet them where they’re at.

Because sometimes what changes a life is profoundly simple:

someone listens, someone believes you, and someone stays.

Content note: This episode contains descriptions of childhood neglect, abuse and traumatic experiences within care settings.

Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families.

Explore all episodes and resources:
https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk

Listen and follow:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks

Follow on social media:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks

Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates:
https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk

Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.