Help Tyler Overcome Depression and Anxiety

Hi, my name is Nichole and I am a single mom raising my kids.

Tyler is my son who has gone through so much as a child. He struggled with severe ADHD since the age of 5 and has been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety in the last year. I am struggling to help him with getting help for his depression and anxiety because I keep getting roadblocks where the insurance will not cover Tyler for treatment.

I went through a really bad divorce where my ex-husband was absent from the kids' lives mostly due to his own illnesses and would exclude himself for the most part from our lives. I knew that I needed a better life for my kids and myself, so I did one of the hardest things by getting a divorce. This was really hard on my youngest son Tyler because he was struggling with his ADHD already, and then losing his only home he ever knew and seeing his dad in the house, even if he didn't do much with them, put him in a bad depression.

I could not find another home that I could afford due to being a single mom; the landlords would not rent to me. It was a struggle, and we moved into a 2-bedroom where Tyler did not have his own space or room as he was used to for 11 years. He struggled and felt like the carpet was lifted from underneath him. I did what I could and found a house I can barely afford so my son could have his own room, and he had to start a new middle school with no friends from previous years.

This was another struggle, and this is when the anxiety and depression really stepped in, and he would cry to go to school or just to get out of the car. I tried everything I could, and to this day, 9 months later in the school year, he has gotten even worse where I can't get him up to get to school. He gets so much anxiety he can't do it. He is under the care of a psychiatrist and therapist, but he is not getting better. He feels a little better with his medicine but needs more.

It took me 4 months to even find a psychiatrist and therapist that is over 2 hours away to drive since no one will see a teen with my private insurance. Crazy that a single mom doing the best she can and pays for insurance struggles with this. I had the school district trying to help me and the insurance company as well as my work program, and no one could find an in-person psychiatrist or therapist for Tyler that was covered.

It has gotten so bad that the school now wants to take me to court for stating I am not doing my part as a parent to get him to school. I try for hours a day to get him up and plead and beg and now cry to get him up to go to school. My baby just needs help, and I need to get him a full-time live-in health facility for just a couple of months to give Tyler a reset and learn tools that will help him in his future to be successful. This is a child that comes from the top of his class in elementary school—GATE student—to what is going on now. My baby just needs a chance. Please help with whatever you can. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!