15 year old dd attempted suicide this morning

[RhythmNBooze]

I have posted here about dd before and her self harming. She recently admitted she has been planning her suicide for some months. CAMHS have been monitoring her with high risk team. She had an appointment yesterday with them but they didn;t turn up. Luckily her regular counsellor was ablr to attend. DH found her this morning cutting her arm, blood dripping down on the floor. She is ok but not communicating. It wasn't severe to be 'an emergency' as such. We drove her to A&E. I am sat at home, dh is with her in hospital. They've been there since 7.30am. Her CAMHS counsellor is trying to get her seen by crisis team as soon as possible.

I am sitting here feeling numb. I have no idea what to do.

Oh god I am so sorry. I have absolutely no advice but didn’t want to read & run. Have you any support for yourself at all?

I don't know what to say but for you all. Hope the CAMHS team can help now.

I can’t offer any practical advice, just huge sympathy. Can’t imagine what you must be going through.

If it’s any help though, I did something similar at 15 - twice - and I’m still here nearly 25 years later, happy and healthy with gorgeous kids of my own.

Much love to you and your daughter.

Thank you especially Tis. That does help, alot.

I am so sorry to hear this, it is such a difficult thing to try & deal with. We spent 8 1/2 hours at a & e one day last week. Finally got home after 3am, 14 year old daughter was kept overnight for observation. Thankfully she disclosed to her psychologist that she had a suicide plan organised & psychologist said we were going to the hospital immediately. Safety procedures are being put in place & she still isn't allowed back at school until the end of this week while they put plans into place. I really hope that your daughter can be helped to feel better in herself, it is such a difficult age that seems to really hit some hard.

She has been assessed by the mental health nurse and is being admitted overnight. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. Thank you for sharing your experience mrssprout. I'm now at the hospital and we are waiting for a bed for her. To look at her you wouldn't think there's anything wrong.

Even if hospitals are not very nice, she will be absolutely safe tonight and you can both hopefully get a bit of rest

She's on the ward now and were back at home.A mental health nurse is sitting with her as she is still at risk. Despite all the self harming I can't believe this is happening.

Just sending your dd, you and your family a hug,

Been in your position earlier in the year when dd 13 took an overdose. It's shit. She continues to be low and have suicidal thoughts. I find it helpful to read posts like the pp who said as an adult things got better. Look after yourselves.

She was discharged from hospital this morning but she wasn't happy about it. Says she feels safer there. Another appointment with regular camhs counsellor this evening. Visit from crisis nurse in the morning. She is still vulnerable but she's better off at home. Ironically had a relatively good evening. Who knows what will happen tomorrow though.

Why didn't camhs turn up when they were supposed to?
Has the quality of their support been sufficient?
Why didn't they identify the level of risk?
Have they made suffient progress to identify the cause(s) of her self harm?

CAMHS shut dd's case. We engaged a consultant psychiatrist. Our dd had ADHD it took 9 months of private treatment to reach diagnosis. It was the turning point.

Keep pressing CAMHS. Keep pressing for escalation to a Dr instead of a nurse. Ask for clinical Neuro developmental disabilities to be investigated.

Make sure you have a written audit trail. In my experience CAMHS are lazy sods who will do anything to blame the parents or do as little as possible.

And get back to the hospital so you are on hand to ask and answer questions and ensure no decisions take place without reference to you. And to make sure that decision makers know you are present, k ow you care and know you love. You are your dd's very best advocate. Be it.