This article has an estimated read time of five minutes
At the beginning of lockdown nearly a year ago, like many people Tina Cook started keeping a diary. The 38-year-old single mother of five had been furloughed from her job working at a branch of McDonaldâs in Leicester and at first found it a blessing. She had time to properly cook for her children, aged between 18 and five, and when the weather was warm inflated a paddling pool in the backyard where they could play, safe from the world outside.
Fast forward 12 months and those diary entries now read very differently. Tina is taking medication for anxiety and while back at work she is terrified every time she has to set foot out the door. At night she cannot sleep because she is constantly listening out for her 18-year-old daughter who has developed such bad insomnia she often doesnât go to bed until 6am. âMy anxiety is about dying,â she says, bluntly. âThe children are my life and if Iâm gone wh