‘I can’t work’: the mothers left to fight alone for their children’s mental health care

Three parents forced to give up their lives and careers to get help for their severely ill children tell their stories

Cassandra Leese should have been at the front of the queue when the NHS called on former staff to return to help fight the nascent Covid pandemic in March 2020.

As an ITU-trained nurse, she was exactly the sort of experienced frontline worker the health service desperately needed. But instead of rejoining the ranks, she was housebound.