Ask Sam letter

Asker

To Sam

I really want to tell me teacher !!

Dear Sam ,
I have been struggling alot with my life currently , I can only explain it by saying that I feel terribke alot sad , anxious and depressed but I still laugh and smile and can act normal but its normally just sort of acting and laughing doesnt really feel positive. Anyway , I am in  a very stuck position in which only a very small amount of people acctualy help for me to talk to , so my parents know but they dont understand etc In school my form tutor is so nice and I feel like he could help me with things like being able to go to a special place if I am having a panic attack or something but I know that if I talk to him he will have to tell other people and talk to my parents which I cant bear to think about .So again that isnt an option but everyday I see him I feel this massive urge to just explain everything and its so difficult because I cant tell him but I want to so badly because I feel like I can acctualy trust him :( help please :(
 
Ask Sam

Sam

Hi,

You’ve done really well to tell me what you’re going through and I can hear that part of you is feeling ready to share this with somebody else. Your form tutor sounds like someone you feel able to trust and it seems as though it would mean a lot to you if he knew how you’d been struggling. 

It can feel really difficult to start talking about your feelings and it can help to practise so you feel more confident about what you want to say. I’m really glad that you felt able to write to me about it. How do you think it would feel to speak to a ChildLine counsellor so that you can go over the things you’d like to talk to your tutor about? Many young people find it helpful to practise what they are going to say in a safe and private place.

You sound as though you’re going through a lot and it might be a good idea to take a look at our page on depression. The Young Minds website is also a good place to look for help when you’re feeling anxious or depressed.  

From what you explained you’re worried about your form tutor telling somebody else or speaking to your parents. It seems like your parents already know about this and I’m wondering whether it might help for them to hear about it again from your form tutor. I noticed that you said that they don’t seem to understand what you’re going through. You sound as though you’ve thought a lot about the sorts of things that could help you at school. Perhaps you could think about how you’d like your parents to support you and let them know about what would help more.

If you’re not sure about talking to somebody face to face, remember that you can let them know in other ways. For example, you could send them a letter or email to explain things. Often, the person might then ask to talk to you about it, but these can be ways of starting off the conversation with them. It might also be useful for you to look at our advice about asking an adult for help.

It’s great that you got in touch and this seems like it might be the first step towards you speaking out and getting the help you need. I hope things go well for you. Remember that you can always talk to a ChildLine counsellor for support.

Take care,

Sam

Need help straight away?

You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.

Ask me a question

You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.

Write me a letter