Kelvin's Story

Kelvin lives in a constant balancing act. Both his wife and teenage son have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and when tensions flare, he is the one holding the family together.

“Once, I was driving when my wife screamed at our son. He didn’t respond at all, just sat there silently. Later, we discovered he had swallowed a piece of a plastic bag. That was his way of coping,” Kelvin recalls.

Things became even harder in April this year, when his son began refusing to go to school. Then came the shocking confession - his son had swallowed ten cetirizine pills, ten times the normal dosage. “He told me two days later,” Kelvin shares. “I worked out a safety plan immediately, but at his request, I couldn’t tell my wife. We were both worried she might have a meltdown.”

For weeks, Kelvin walked on eggshells, protecting his son in secret while managing his wife’s anger over what she saw as his “permissive parenting style.” Every day felt like an emotional tightrope.

Things improved when Kelvin joined CAL’s 12-week Caregivers-to-Caregivers Training Programme. The course gave him a deeper understanding of ADHD and practical strategies to manage crises. Most importantly, it connected him to other parents who truly understood.

“I felt less alone,” Kelvin says. “Now, I have a support network that gets what I’m going through.” The course has also helped him regain some sense of normalcy in his family life, and they often spend their weekends going on hikes together.

Kelvin's story was featured in a Lianhe Zaobao article, "Social service agencies strengthen community support networks and open courses to guide caregivers (社会服务机构加强社区支持网络 开课为看护者指路)", link here.