Lord Somers: letting air out of the balloon

It’s never easy, but sometimes it is harder than others. Can you imagine, being the grandparent and unexpectedly the full-time carer of a pre-teen, whose parents have disappeared because of drug use? A child who lives with fear, has experienced trauma, whose life has been built on shaky foundations. Now cared for by grandparents who must grieve the loss of their son or daughter, while trying to provide solid ground for their grandchild.

Mirabel carer Helen admits she was at breaking point, when Mirabel invited her and her granddaughter to the Lord Somers camp weekend retreat.

‘It could not have happened at a more appropriate time for me,’ she wrote to Mirabel. ‘I could see that we all felt safe, it was ridiculously relaxing for us carers and our little girl had an absolute blast.’

Even better, the following week showed a remarkable change in her girl. Marks improved, attention improved, teachers commented on how engaged and focused she was.
The grandmother wrote, ‘She really has been her “best self” this week in every possible way. And for the first time in over 12 months, she hasn't mentioned her fear of her mum’s boyfriend once. (It’s usually at least once a day!) She obviously needed the reset just as much - if not more - than we did but we didn’t realise that until now.’