I am at work at the moment working on programming some complex changes to software. But I've had a call from my wife about our son again. He is 13 and has Aspergers/ADHD.

This morning we told him that he MUST go to homework club after school since he has a project due and he is not doing his homework. During a physical education lesson he tried to hit another pupil, tried to climb the school boundary fence and then tried to strangle himself with his bag.

This is another incident in a long series of antisocial, attention-seeking or criminal behaviours from our son . We have a family worker who visits us but my wife is ranting and upset, getting angry with the school and the family worker.

On top of this my wife is always unhappy (I think she has undiagnosed dysthymia), we are not getting on with my mother, my daughter is getting upset and I am suffering from the stress of it all. Fortunately my own mental health is much better in 2017 so I am stronger and able to support them all.

My daughter is 16 and my mother keeps giving her mobile phones and she has lost 3 of them. We are currently looking for phone number 3 and she does not want to admit to grandma what has happened.

Tonight I am going to be strong and not have a glass (or bottle!) or whisky.

Over the weekend amongst other things I am going to look at getting some private psychological help for our son. We are trying to claim welfare benefits (disability living allowance) to help pay for this.

I go to a support group locally, I might go tonight but the best group is tomorrow night so that might be more helpful. Also I keep myself busy which I find good for my mental health. I work full time, I have a part time job where I teach adults over the internet (associate lecturer which is like an adjunct in the USA) and I run a club for people who go on short hikes (3-8 miles). At the moment my passion is writing a book about computer programming, which is what I do for a living and what my doctorate is in.

However this evening the challenge is just getting through the night without anyone being hurt, without the police being called to our home again, and without a hangover!

I'm sat at work with earphones in listening to music, that also helps me a lot.