Sarah's older daughter started cutting herself when she was 14. Sarah found this completely unexpected and frightening. Her daughter has been helped by the school nurse and a private psychologist.

• Self-harm profiles: mothers and daughters

At 18 year old, Gail suspected she may have Asperger syndrome, but did not feel the need to get diagnosed until more recently. She was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome two years ago.

Dr Sharon Dixon is a GP and NIHR doctoral research fellow at Oxford University, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. Sharon worked on the primary care front line throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Covid in the community: Health professional

Jenny Douglas is a Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies at the Open University. Jenny's research has concentrated on changing policy, practice and approaches to research in health promotion and public health. She has published widely on public health, health promotion and black women's health. The key theme unifying her research and activism is intersectionality – exploring how race;, class and gender affect health. Jenny Douglas established and chairs the Black Women's Health and Wellbeing Research Network.

Gender: Male Ethnicity: Black British Background: Tony is Black British. He is retired and lives with his wife. Tony developed symptoms before the first lockdown. When they persisted for two weeks, he knew it was Covid. He was anxious about Covid at first because he is Type 2 diabetic, but feels his healthy lifestyle helped against Covid.

Gender: Female Ethnicity: Indian Background: Jaswinder is 44 years old and is Indian. She lives with her husband and children. Jaswinder heard about Covid in 2019 but experienced it herself after her daughter developed symptoms in July 2021. She feels let down by the government about racism in education and healthcare during the pandemic

Gender: Female Ethnicity: Black Caribbean Background: Claudia is 57 years old and is Black Caribbean. She is retired from being a mental health nurse and works part-time in funeral services. Claudia heard about Covid while on holiday but experienced it herself after she developed symptoms in August 2021.

Gender: Female Ethnicity: Indian Background: Sonal is 53 years old and is Indian. She works as an Ayurvedic doctor and lives with her husband, sons and niece. Sonal was infected with Covid after taking care of her niece, who had come down with a fever. She treated herself with Aryuvedic remedies like herbs and steam. Sonal had problems with infection and breaking out into a rash, and she was admitted to the hospital several times.

Gender: Male Ethnicity: Bangladeshi Background: Mohammed is 71 years old and is Bangladeshi. He is retired and lives with his wife and their son's family. Mohammed heard about Covid on the news but experienced it himself after he developed symptoms in October 2020. Mohammed was worried about how hospitals would treat an elderly, Asian person, but was pleased with his treatment. Gender: Female Ethnicity: Bangladeshi Background: Shirin is 59 years old and is Bangladeshi. She works as an outreach lead for a health organisation, and lives with her husband and their son's family. Brief Outline: Shirin found everyone being house-bound very stressful, and was glad to be a key worker so she had a reason to leave the house.

Gender: Female Ethnicity: Black British Background: Gertrude is 52 years old and is Black British. She works as a nurse in a care home. Gertrude thinks she caught Covid from a patient at work. Her faith in God helped her during this time.