Daily Mail - 01.08.2019

Daily Mail, Thursday, August 1, 2019 Page 51

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significant pressure’, with demand

more than 50 per cent higher than

expected last year, but said the

Trust had ‘secured additional

funding and recruited more psy-

chiatrists and other mental health

professionals to successfully bring

waiting times down over the past

six months’.

Dr Wilson said young people can

access a drop-in service and those

seen by the private sector ‘should

and do continue to have full access

to NHS support’. Kadra Abdinasir,

of the Children & Young People’s

Mental Health Coalition, says girls

are more susceptible to the online

‘compare and despair’ culture and

that ‘online bullying is almost

inescapable for young people’.

Certainly, social media was a

factor in Celtic Meredith Welch’s

aborted attempt to end her life

last year, aged 14. Bullied in real

life for her acne, Celtic’s self-

esteem plummeted further when

scrolling through Instagram.

‘The models I saw had clear skin

and mine wasn’t,’ says Celtic, now

15, who has experienced periods

of depression since the age of 12.

‘She was sensitive anyway and

bullying about her skin upset her,’

says her mother, Kirstine, 43, who

works for a photography company

and split up with Celtic’s dad in

2016 after 14 years of marriage.

‘It upset her greatly and, sadly,

sparked a further downward

spiral in her mental health.’

Last April, Kirstine came home

unexpectedly to discover Celtic

sitting with packets of pills lined

up to swallow.

‘She hadn’t been expecting me,’

says Kirstine. ‘Celtic said she’d

hoped I’d find her on the floor. I

held her in silence, shocked. I

was devastated.’

Kirstine took her daughter to

the GP, who referred her to Essex’s

Emotional Wellbeing and Mental

Health Service.

After eight weeks, Celtic was

given

weekly

counsel-

ling. ‘After

16 sessions

we were told

her time was

up,’ says Kirstine. Three months

ago, Kirstine took Celtic back

to her GP, where she told the

doctor she felt unhappy. ‘He said

he “didn’t see anything wrong”

with her,’ says Kirstine. ‘He knew

she’d contemplated suicide. She

walked out in tears.’

Celtic, who dreams of becoming

a lawyer, but often feels too

anxious to go to school, says she

is still depressed.

North East London NHS

Foundation Trust told the Mail

it was unable to comment on

individual cases. The Trust offers

young people a confidential

service, but will talk to them

about telling their parents and

safeguarding services about

issues that might put them or

others at risk. A Department of

Health and Social Care spokes-

person told the Mail children’s

mental health is a ‘key

priority’, adding: ‘As part

of the NHS Long Term

Plan, we have commit-

ted to increasing the

funding for children

and young people’s

mental health serv-

ices faster than both

overall NHS funding

and total mental

health spending.’

However, their

commitment

came too late to

prevent Melanie

Llewellyn’s daugh-

ter, Riannon, from

overdosing aged 12.

Although Melanie, 38,

a graphic designer from

Dunstable, Bedfordshire,

had had a breakdown of

her own just a year earlier,

she says Riannon wasn’t

offered support until she

reached crisis point.

Suffering under the

financial stress of running

an art centre, in April 2012

Melanie went through a

breakdown and swallowed

too much medication.

Riannon found her

mother unconscious and

called an ambulance.

‘I made a full recovery,

but, with all medical help

focused on me, Riannon

got completely over-

looked,’ says Melanie,

who found her daughter

delirious on her bed one

evening in June 2013.

‘Her lips were blue and

she was twitching.’

Terrified, Melanie called

an ambulance that took

Riannon to Luton and

Dunstable Hospital,

where she stayed for

five days. ‘I was told to

prepare for the worst,’ says

Melanie, who is married to Lee,

45, an operations manager. ‘I sat

by her bed, stroked her forehead

and cried. She is my world.’

F

oRTuNATELY,

medics were able to

save Riannon. After-

wards, the family’s

Bedfordshire branch of CAMHS

provided counselling. She finally

confided in her mother a few weeks

later. ‘She told me that ever since

my suicide attempt, she heard a

voice in her head saying she was

fat, ugly and worthless,’ says Mel-

anie, who has written a book about

her daughter’s ordeal, And When

You Become A Diamond.

A spokesperson for East London

NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT)

told the Mail there have been

‘extensive service developments’

in Bedfordshire since Riannon

overdosed: ‘We now have an out-

of-hours crisis team, schools-

based CAMHS workers and GP

liaison workers, all of which have

led to a much faster response and

improved access for young people

presenting with acute mental

health difficulties.

‘A family facing similar issues

today would hopefully have a very

different experience.’

After 12 months’ counselling,

Riannon — who celebrated her

18th birthday in March — made a

full recovery, and Melanie wants

her story to offer hope to other

parents. ‘The help once Riannon

hit crisis point was amazing,’

says Melanie. ‘The problem is it

all came too late.’

Support: Lucy Waite

with her mum Gill

Each morning

I walk into

her bedroom

wondering

if she’ll still

be alive...

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O For confidential support,

call the Samaritans on 116123

or visit a local Samaritans

branch. See http://www.samaritans.

org for details.

An epidemic of mental health

problems is engulfing teenagers.

So why, ask these anguished

mothers, do some have to

attempt suicide before they’re

seen by an NHS counsellor?