Meet the adopted Mackem who has overcome being abused as a child and is now on a mission to support children's mental health

Growing up in Bootle in Liverpool she was repeatedly bullied at school and during one attack at the age of 14 she was left with a fractured skull after being “jumped on her way home”.

While her childhood ordeal inevitably left emotional scars, for the last decade she has been channelling her energy and knowledge to support the city’s children with their own trials and tribulations which may be having a detrimental impact on their mental health.

Sharon, 48, who has lived in Sunderland since 2005 after moving with her ex-husband, said: “I grew-up in a household which was exposed to domestic violence and alcohol abuse, which was just part of life in Bootle at the time.

"I remember at the age of three seeing my mother getting attacked and at the age of two I had a black eye. I’m an adult survivor of child neglect and abuse.

"I remember as a young adult, I wasn’t able to cope. I was functioning in some capacity but I was mentally very unwell due to the devastation of my abuse.

"Between the age of 16 and 22, I had six failed suicide attempts.”

As Sharon entered adulthood she started working as a youth worker, but the emotional trauma she experienced would often resurface.

She said: “I would constantly self-sabotage. If something was starting to go well, then I would always do something to bring it to an end. If there wasn’t a problem then I would create one. I would destroy whatever was good.

"I think it was because I had no self-worth. I didn’t place any value on myself.”

It was at the age of 30, after falling pregnant with her first son, that Sharon decided to break the cycle of depression and she was determined not to let what she had been exposed to as child to continue to derail her future.

She said: “I realised I wanted his life to be different and I started to make a change. It came from within. I kept telling myself the past is the past and over time I began to let go and started to heal.”

However, it wasn’t just her own son who Sharon was determined to help.

She added: “By this time I had already moved to the North East and was running a youth project in Newcastle. I would speak with some of the youngsters and it made me realise many of these children were experiencing their own problems and mental health issues.

"I did a Level 3 counselling course and later enrolled on a counselling degree at the University of Sunderland.”

During this period, Sharon also began to volunteer on the Parents Board at Sunderland City Council, where she first came-up with the idea to form Impact North East, a Community Interest Company which provides therapeutic services and mental health support to the region’s children and their families.

She said: “I would speak to lots of parents and they would tell me about the struggles they were having with their children andand their own mental health. They may not have reached the point they were eligible for statutory support or their children could be on a long waiting list.

"I’ve always been a caring person and I decided to set up Impact North East to support people in this situation.”

Despite having only £50 in her pocket and being warned she “couldn’t make it happen”, selfless Sharon embarked on her mercy mission.

She added: “I managed to access funding from the business start-up scheme at the University of Sunderland and spoke with some of the youth workers and counsellors I knew and convinced them to get involved as volunteers.”

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In 2013 Impact North East was born and since then it has gone from strength to strength providing counselling and support to children both through referrals to the company’s new base at The Commissioners Building as well as deploying counsellors into schools across both Sunderland and the wider region.

The CIC also offers support in the form of a food bank, warm hub and provider of financial advice as well as direct financial support to families in a “crisis situation”.

Sharon has also established both Men’s and Women’s support groups as well as the new mum’s group, Out of the Blue and into the Pink, to support women struggling with post-natal depression or simply not wanting to feel socially isolated.

Sharon said: “Impact stands for inclusion and mentoring for parents, adolescents, children and teachers, as we feel as well as supporting the child it’s vital to provide 360 degree support to their families and people who work with them.

"You often find families in these situations are also be suffering from financial and food poverty and so if we can alleviate some of these issues then we can focus on the underlying cause of the mental health problem."

Sharon has seen a worrying escalation in the need for help following the isolation of the Covid pandemic and increased financial burden of the cost of Living crisis.

With more people needing help, Impact North East has now expanded to include welfare support for local businesses.

Sharon, who now lives in Sunderland with her partner and their four children, said: “There’s too much red tape for people to jump through and I just want to help remove the social and health inequalities people face and for families to know there is support available for children and young people to live healthy lives.”

On her own wellbeing, Sharon added: “I still have sad days but I know that tomorrow will be better. I just seen it as one brief stop on my bus journey.”

Anyone needing support can contact Impact North East on 01918151029.