Raina and Audrey’s story

Raina does not have an official diagnosis, but she has been described by her therapist as having a form of affective disorder. Her behavioural difficulties manifest as being confrontational, mostly with her mother.

Raina also experiences extreme tiredness and a lack of motivation, and suffers from depression. She enjoys spending time with her boyfriend at his house, roller-skating, writing poetry and planning for her YouTube channel on meditation music. Her goal is to move out of the home she shares with her mother and sister as soon as possible.

Audrey also demonstrates behavioural difficulties. She was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at birth, and has access to a psychologist as part of her care team. According to Audrey, she was recently diagnosed with OCD, depression and anxiety. Audrey’s main interests are playing video games, Japanese culture (food and manga), cooking and roller-skating. She particularly loves watching streamers (people playing video games live).

Belinda describes her daughters as having two very different personalities. Raina is full of energy, and Audrey is harder to read.

There were changes in Raina’s behaviour when she was at secondary school: she started dropping behind academically and taking less interest in extracurricular things that she used to enjoy. Raina reflected that it was a difficult time:

Belinda didn’t fully understand what was happening, and what was driving her daughter’s rebellious and stubborn behaviour. She now attributes this to having witnessed and experienced abuse from Belinda’s ex-partner. She describes how her daughters have a lot of anger that is directed towards their mum.

Belinda says that her attention has mostly been on her older daughter, and that took a lot of energy. This means that Audrey’s issues largely went unnoticed until last year.

The family’s situation is having an impact on different aspects of their lives.

The atmosphere in the house is often tense between Belinda and her eldest child. All three state that they have very few friends, with Raina falling out with her best friend, and Audrey finding that she is increasingly distanced from her only two friends due to her “antisocial behaviour”.

Audrey says she is still coming to terms with her recent diagnoses of OCD, depression and anxiety, which she finds overwhelming. Audrey finds school a struggle, and says it is hard to focus because of the tension at home. There was a recent incident of self-harm that took place at school, which resulted in Audrey being taken to hospital for observation. Audrey attributes this to having “a low mood the whole week, and it got worse”. She says that there was a really bad argument between her mum and sister, which took its toll on her.

Raina had largely negative experiences at her old school. She often couldn’t keep awake in class and the school kept punishing her, thinking that she was being rebellious rather than trying to understand what was triggering her behaviour. This meant that Raina would often stay at home instead. Belinda says that the school “failed Raina and… their duty to her”.

Raina had a year out and is now at sixth form. This school has been more engaged in working with Raina to give her encouragement. Belinda feels that Audrey’s school also has good safety nets in place, such as counsellors, and can address Audrey’s needs if an incident occurs.

Raina wants to take money she earns, and invest in the stock market and anything to do with artificial intelligence. When she finishes sixth form, she will apply for an apprenticeship to earn money while at university. She also wants to self-publish a book, be a mini-influencer, and grow a following to promote her poetry. She spoke about wanting a family of her own in a nice environment.

Audrey hopes to overcome her challenges and become a game programmer.