Mental health of one sibling affecting the others (TW)

[WetBBQPants]

TW as I am going to mention suicide and self harm.

A very close friend of mine has 4 children. The eldest is at uni. The younger two are both in sixth form. The second child, now a young adult, has struggled with her mental health for many years and has self harmed in front of her siblings, they've seen a lot, too much. Over the years she has attempted to kill herself 11 times, so she's been sectioned.

I support the youngest two as much as I can as they've been left in an awful situation, dealing with the constant possibility of their sister killing herself, but not having mum and dad available as their resources are concentrated on the second child.

They're both experiencing emotions that they're struggling to make sense of, because they don't realise the impact that living like this would have had on them. Thinking about that even makes them feel guilty. We've been talking about this, and I was wondering if there might be a book that's age appropriate for how a sibling's mental health can affect the other siblings. At some point it's clear that they will need therapy to process this, but right now there's no capacity for this.

Thank you so much.

Who says 'there's no capacity for this' re them being supported? Hopefully not their parents!

Right now there are no funds for private therapy, and although both of them have been offered counselling via school, they have rejected it because they want to keep that part of their lives away from school; one of them did try and said that it felt awful to then return to lessons.

Can the parents find funds from elsewhere or is all their money spent on middle child? How old is she, does she still live at home?

While I understand the horrible time they are going through I think they have to remember they have 4 child, and while they of course want to support and care for their adult child they need to be cautious they do not continue to neglect their other dc.

Thanks, all that is true, of course, but what I am asking for here is some resources that might be helpful for them to start having an understanding of what they've gone through, and are still going through. Books or websites that talk about the impact of a sibling with mental health on the other siblings.