Emma's story
My name is Emma and I am 10 years old. I have been coming to The Children's Society's Stars project since July 2002. At school before I came to STARS I was having a lot of worries about my mum going into hospital and having a lot to drink like beer. I feel that I had no one to talk to. I did not tell anyone at school except my best friend. In the classroom I cried and got upset.
When I was younger I used to live with my two brothers, my mum and my dad. Even though my mum and dad drank a lot we all were still happy. Sometimes when my mum and dad had a lot to drink they started fighting a lot. One day they started fighting and my dad walked out on us.
When I was five, Mum started drinking a lot, lot more. Before my Mum drank a lot she done lots of nice things with me. She took us to the park and to the swimming baths. In the park, we went on the stepping-stones and my brother fell in the pond and all of us laughed.
A few years later my mum drank a lot more and she used to cut herself on her body. When my mum did this I felt scared because I thought she might die. She got help from a lady at STARS and this helped her with her problems.
Things started getting a bit better with my mum and at my house. It always used to get out of control at night, when we went to bed, but one night when all of us went to bed she didn't get drunk.
Coming to STARS makes me more happier because I can talk to them and I am writing my own story. This has helped me put my worries to the back of my head instead of the front of my head. I hope my mum will carry on getting this help so that she will be better and stop cutting herself.
I feel that writing my own story will make my Mum and other people understand how I feel. People like me need places like STARS to come to.
Working with children and young people