Harry’s Pals:

Supporting fellow parents

Harry’s Pals provides emotional support to the parents of severely ill or disabled parents. Hayley Charlesworth, co-founder of the charity, talks about her own family’s journey, and their decision to create the organisation.

Harry’s Pals was launched in April 2022. The charity is named after my son Harry, and was set up to bridge the gap in emotional support that we ourselves experienced following his heartbreaking diagnosis.

When Harry was born in 2015, we had no idea that our lives would be flipped upside down. It was only when he started to have violent seizures the day after he was born that doctors realised there was something terribly wrong. Eventually, after a multitude of tests, we were given the devastating news: our son would need care for the rest of his life due to the level of brain damage identified during an MRI scan. I remember asking the consultant who delivered the news, ‘Will we be allocated any emotional support?’ The answer was ‘No, sorry. It’s not something parents are offered.’

Over the years since I have given this much thought. I’ve reflected on the detrimental impact that the lack of emotional support has had for us, and how this affected my family during such a harrowing, isolating and frightening time. I still find the lack of provision shocking, especially given that the parent is also then charged with looking after a medically complex child.

Because of this, last year I decided to launch Harry’s Pals. We support parents through three types of activity, and these are all services that would have made a huge difference to my husband and I as we struggled through those early years. We provide emotional support to parents through professional counselling and therapy sessions, which are bespoke to their needs We offer 2-4 night breaks away so that families and couples can get some muchneeded time out. We have also set up a networking group so that parents who are new to having a child with a complex illness or disability can speak to other parents who have been or are going through something similar.

If you would like to find out about Harry’s Pals and how you can support us, please contact harryspalscharity@gmail.com

If you would like to make a donation then please go to www.justgiving.com/harryspals

To apply for support please go to: www.harryspals.org

To join our networking group please search the Harry’s Pals Parent Support Group on Facebook.

If you would like to find out about Harry’s Pals and how you can support us, please contact harryspalscharity@gmail.com

If you would like to make a donation then please go to www.justgiving.com/harryspals

To apply for support please go to: www.harryspals.org

To join our networking group please search the Harry’s Pals Parent Support Group on Facebook.