Daughters mental health

[Bishy82]

My 14 yo daughter has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and is having ongoing treatment...... Recently she has been getting into truoble at school 😏 caught smoking and just being a general pain!!! Last time we grounded her but this led to self harming (quite sever) and she took an overdose ☹️
Again she has got in trouble at school and I don’t know what to do with her.... I’m so scared she will self harm and take another overdose but she needs to understand her behaviour isn’t acceptable 😩 I’m struggling so much to parent her, I feel like it’s starting to take a toll on my mental health!! Any advice would be gratefully received!!!!

Hi there!
I'm sorry to hear about your situation, I can most certainly relate to what your daughter is going through so I hope I can help. Firstly I would lay off the punishment, she's expressing her emotions in the only way she feels she can. Secondly, find her someone to talk to. Not someone known to the family, someone she can trust completely to keep everything confidential. I hate to suggest it but there might be something bad that she's keeping from you, possibly abuse? She needs to talk to someone who she can open up to without judgement or an overreaction. Ask her what she wants, if it's situational then changes can be made, if not then the doctors can help. There are special folks to help with teens. I know it's tough to keep your emotions in check when you feel like you're not getting through to her, but give her some space. Let her know that you're taking this seriously and you're not angry, you just want to help her. The fact that you care means you're already a better mum than I ever had, she should be fine.