The mother of a bullied 12-year-old girl has said her daughter had trouble getting mental health support at the National Health Service in the previous months he committed suicide and accused his school of not dealing with inappropriate messages circulating among students.
Charley-Ann Patterson’s mother, Jamie, told a hearing that despite being treated by three medical professionals, Charley-Ann had been unable to obtain mental health support in the months before her death.
In a statement read out at an inquest at Northumberland Coroner’s Court on October 12, Jamie said her daughter had changed in the middle of her first year of secondary school, when other pupils sent her “inappropriate” and “shocking” messages.
Jamie’s statement said one message read, “You’re useless, you can’t even kill yourself properly.” Charley-Ann said that she “had been receiving messages of a similar nature for a while”.
A week before she was found dead at her home in Cramlington, Northumberland on October 1, 2020, Charley-Ann was sent a TikTok video that left her “visibly upset” showing her “how to tie a knot that you couldn’t tie off”. .
Jamie said she spoke to Charley-Ann’s school, Cramlington Learning Village, and learned that “several other parents had also mentioned inappropriate messages at school.”
The statement said that during the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, Charley-Ann had received messages through her Chromebook, which the school asked parents to purchase, and in virtual “breakout rooms” that she believed They were not supervised by staff members. .
The inquest heard Jamie first took her daughter to a GP over self-harm concerns in June 2019, but said she “didn’t think the GP took Charley-Ann’s self-harm seriously, possibly due to at his age.”
She took Charley-Ann to A&E in May 2020 after a second episode of self-harm, where she was referred to a psychiatric team and given a phone appointment that Charley-Ann would be referred to children’s mental health services. and teenagers. (CAMHS), but that “they probably won’t see her for three years.”
At an appointment with a nurse, she was told she would be referred to Northumberland mental health center for low mood and anxiety, but later learned that “this referral was never made”.
Jamie said she believed Charley-Ann “felt very isolated” due to not being able to go to school during the pandemic, and was having issues with the “bubble” system put in place to minimize the spread of Covid. The school put her in the same bubble as a student she had a problem with and told her this “couldn’t be changed”.
Jamie said he took Charley-Ann’s electronic devices away in the summer of 2020 and saw a “huge change in her mood and behavior” but that her attitude changed when she returned to school in September and began deleting her messages. and call history. Within fifteen days she had committed suicide.
Jamie said the family was now “actively campaigning to improve children’s mental health services and reduce waiting times.”
The investigation continues.
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In the UK, the Papyrus youth suicide charity can be contacted by calling 0800 068 4141 or emailing [email protected], and in the UK and Ireland the Samaritans can be contacted by calling freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for help. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
