I'm sorry to hear this @Pimmsypimms, it is heartbreaking to see them go through it. Do you think moving her would help, new start and all that? I'm sorry too you can't seem to find more support.
Personally I find it so difficult to deal with, it's like a loss for the girl you once knew, although there are glimpses now and again, like you said, they are in there somewhere, just struggling to reach the surface.
DD has actually settled in well, she found it terribly hard the first few weeks, it is five times the size of her old school and there are boys, which change the dynamic. We had a few wobbles, where she missed her old school - I think it's like giving birth, you forget all the horrid stuff and always remember the good! However, she seems to have got past that. She has made a couple of good friends, they invited her to the cinema and stuff, she introduced me to them at a school play and they seemed lovely.
Workwise, she came top in the science exam, not a huge score, but was so thrilled, as her previous school was so academic and selective, so she was always somewhere on the lower end, as lots got 90/100% all the time, which used to be demoralising. She also is managing to keep up in the maths set they put her in, in her previous school she was in the bottom one, here she is in set 3 out of I think 6, so again, that's really good for her self esteem.
Most of the time she is okay, she never minds going in, but she is still very 'messed up', for want of a better word (I would never say that to her), she gets angry and turns that on me, but it's difficult to know how much would be normal 15 year old and how much is about what has gone on. She sees a therapist once a week, which she likes, but I have to question a little bit, as I know nothing that goes on - quite rightly too - but I'm sure she totally slags me off and says how unreasonable I am and of course I have no reply to any of it!
There's a thread on Teenagers - holding onto the rope, which is worth looking at, makes you realise you're not alone when it gets tough.
I had a bit of chat with her this morning, as she has been so rude and offhand with us recently and tried to explain how that makes us feel too. I know it's not really about us, but feel it is important she understands that she doesn't have the monopoly of feeling hurt.
A girl, the one who was her best friend, has messaged a couple of times, only chatting about school and how she is getting on, not about any of the other girls, she is cautious about what she says, as everyone else has been blocked. This girl was too, but contacted her via Xbox. Otherwise she has had nothing from anyone.
I heard that the girl who carried on the bullying after the first one was expelled, has left the school. Apparently they felt she needed a new start and it would appear that the other girls at school had started to accuse her of being why dd left and it was difficult for her - so the tables were turned completely. There is no way we would send her back though, the other girls were absolutely horrible, she is well out of it.
I just think it takes time, all we can do is, be there, try and be a friend, be the voice of reason etc. etc., but it is so, so hard. I think too, there is so much now about anxiety and PTSD etc., that they tend to get very wrapped up in their own feelings such a lot, which doesn't help matters.
I would suggest if you can afford it, you go privately to a therapist. I book blocks of four and it is cheaper that way, it may take ages otherwise and I think just someone for them to offload on, helps. I would never have thought the fees that we paid to what was supposedly a good school (not), are now paying for a therapist, shocking really, but the school let her down so badly.