Supporting a child with depression, Flexible working, Maggie O'Farrell, Paint recycling, Carers and the pandemic. - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

Liz Brookes looks after her husband Mike, who has had vascular dementia and Chris Black cares for his wife, Helen, who has Picks disease, or Frontotemporal dementia. How have they coped during the pandemic? We also hear from Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs from Carers UK.

Has the Covid crisis helped to usher in a future of flexible working? A new report from the campaign Flex Appeal says while that forced remote working during a pandemic is not the same as flexible working, there are lessons that can be learned from lockdown. Anna Whitehouse aka Mother Pukka who co-founded Flex Appeal, and Louise Deverell-Smith who runs Daisy Chain, an online platform that matches flexible employers with flexible job-seekers discuss.

As part of our new series on life and shoes, we speak to Carmen about her espadrilles her mother danced in decades ago.

Josh suffered his first major depressive episode just before he was due to take his A levels. At university his mental health deteriorated further. Josh and his mum Mandy have written a book 'The Boy Between'. They tell us about their experiences – in Josh’s case, learning to live with depression, and in Mandy’s case how best to support and help someone you love who suffers with depression.

Cat Hyde is one of the founders of Seagulls, a project which takes leftover paint and repurposes it into new paint. They take volunteers such as Ash, a young woman who now works at their paint shop, who says that working at Seagulls was vital in her regaining her confidence.

Maggie O’Farrell’s first picture book for children, 'Where Snow Angels Go By' is the story of a brave little girl who is visited by her snow angel in her time of need. The idea for the book grew out of a story Maggie told her own sick child in the back of an ambulance.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Dianne McGregor

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