41: Clare & Carl Graham: The Impact Of A Diagnosis On Your Mental Health

About this episode

Clare and Carl Graham discuss the mental health impact of their daughter's diagnoses and their personal struggles with acceptance and therapy.

It’s a special episode this week because I’ve got a couple on! Clare & Carl Graham join me to talk about their daughter Odette who has Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. We talk about the reality of how long acceptance can take, receiving a second diagnosis, comparison on social media and the impact all of that can have on your mental health. Clare & Carl are both really open about how they’ve struggled mentally and what therapy looked like for both of them. Carl mentions men’s mental health charity Sean’s Place in this episode who do incredible work with men living in Liverpool and Sefton. You can find them here: https://seansplace.org.uk/ You can find Carl on social media here: Instagram: @carlinstagraham TikTok: @carlgsendad

People in this episode

Host: The SEND Mum Club

Guests: Clare Graham, Carl Graham

Topics covered

• mental health
• Down syndrome
• cerebral palsy
• acceptance
• therapy
• social media comparison

Keywords

• mental health
• Down syndrome
• cerebral palsy
• therapy
• acceptance
• social media

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sean’s Place

More episodes of The SEND Mum Club

• 49: My Take on the YouTuber & His Wife Who Terminated Their Pregnancy After A Down Syndrome Diagnosis · June 6, 2026 · 20 min
• 48: Sam Ofoegbu: Making the Decision to Home Educate · June 1, 2026 · 1h 12m
• 47: Dora Garcia: The Travelholic SEN Mum · May 18, 2026 · 1h 3m
• 46: Amelia Christie: 5 Heart Surgeries in 5 Years · May 11, 2026 · 1h 3m
• 45: Christian Laing: Growing Up With A Brother With Down Syndrome, Setting Up Stand Out Socks & Why There’s Still Such A Long Way To Go · April 27, 2026 · 54 min
• 44: Vickie Tanner: Navigating Autism And Mental Health As A Single Mum · April 20, 2026 · 50 min