Psychiatric services - A cry for help ignored

TRYING to come to terms with a child’s suicide is one of the most daunting prospects any parent can face.

Having to face the prospect of that terrible sadness in the knowledge that your 16-year-old child had regularly indicated lethal potential through a history of self-harm and had tried, on at least eight occasions, to kill herself must be even more difficult.

Having to wait for a bed in a suitable psychiatric unit because you don’t have private health insurance for a suicidal daughter, who was sexually abused over six years by your former partner, would bring any parent to the edge of endurance.