Mum fears 13-year-old daughter 'will kill herself or me'

There are 248 children waiting to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Belfast

The mother of a 13-year-old girl has spoken of her difficulty getting mental health support after her child became increasingly violent and suicidal.

"My fear is that she'll kill herself or me," said the woman, who cannot be named to protect the girl's identity.

The girl is one of 248 children waiting to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Belfast.

The Belfast Trust said it will continue to offer support to the girl and her carers whilst on the waiting list.

'Absolute crisis'

The longest wait for children and young people who need help from CAMHS currently stands at 58 days - more than eight weeks.

The family, who have been trying to secure an appointment since January, have been told the girl will now be seen at CAMHS next week.

The trust said 13 young people are currently waiting longer than nine weeks and that young people in "need of urgent assessment" will be seen within 24-36 hours.

However, a Stormont politician said the system must not allow mental health patients to "get to the point of absolute crisis" before treatment is made available.

Nichola Mallon she was aware of the case and "unfortunately many more like it"

The Belfast mother told the BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme that her daughter's problems began shortly after her father died in 2014.

"A year after he passed she seemed to manage with it fine, but as she got into transition, going into secondary school, you could start to see that her language had changed, she started to get very verbally abusive towards me," the woman explained.

In the summer of 2017, her then 12-year-old daughter started to become violent at home and the problems "progressively started to escalate".

If you are struggling to cope, you can call Samaritans free on 116 123 (UK and Ireland) or visit the BBC Action Line website.

'Horrendous'

The woman contacted her GP and arranged bereavement counselling and extra support for her daughter in school, but still felt she could not manage the situation.

"There were constant threats with her threatening that she was going to kill herself, behaviour again escalated to now where we've alcohol involved, she's smoking grass, she would run away frequently, putting herself in extremely dangerous situations where she is highly vulnerable," the woman explained.

"Last week, I was at home on my own and it was horrendous. She went out drinking, refused to go to school, tried to throw me over the banister .

"At that point I ran out of the house and phoned social services and told them I'd had enough.

"It took everything in my power to get away from her. I just felt that was it, I couldn't do any more for her."

'Very dangerous'

The deputy leader of the SDLP, Nichola Mallon, told the programme she was aware of the case and "unfortunately many more like it" as services were not coping with demand.

"I think that the problem here is that we're not doing enough around early intervention and prevention," the North Belfast MLA said.

"We shouldn't be letting children and adults get to the point of absolute crisis, get to the point where as we have just heard - that a very vulnerable young child is trying to take her own life and is putting her own mother's life at risk.

"So we need to examine what we're doing at earlier stages to make sure that we are putting everything possible in place so as few as possible children are getting to the point where they're engaging in that very dangerous behaviour."

In a statement, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust told BBC News NI that it understood it is a "worrying time" for the girl and her carers.

The trust added that while it is unable to discuss the care given to the girl, it is already supporting her and the care team.

A spokesperson said: "Waiting times for non-urgent referrals to CAMHS are within the ministerial access target in all but a very small number of cases (currently 13 children are waiting longer than 9 weeks).

"Where a GP assesses a young person in need of urgent assessment they will be seen within 24-36 hours."