- For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
A teenager hugged her mother and asked for more antidepressants just hours before she took her own life, an inquest has heard.
Emily Burns, 18, ended her life after being discharged from adolescent mental health services in north east London, the inquest was told.
The coroner heard evidence of failings in the youngster’s care but did not find that any aspect of it directly contributed to her death.
Emily’s parents have now revealed they feel their daughter was let down when she ‘needed the help the most’.
The teenager, of Waltham Forest, was under the care of CAMHS (child and adoloscent mental health service), run by North East London NHS Foundation Trust.
She had been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and anorexia, for which she had undergone treatment.
Emily was first given antidepressants in February 2022 and had been referred for psychotherapy in April 2022, The Standard first reported.
However, she ‘slipped through the net’ and received a brief course of therapy that was inadequate for her situation following a lengthy delay in January 2023, a coroner said.
When Emily, an aspiring costume designer, became a legal adult at 18 her care was transferred to a GP.
But the teen had not been reviewed by a senior doctor and her parents had not been involved in the planning, Law firm Irwin Mitchell said.
Emily took an overdose of medication and was admitted to hospital on the day she was transferred, it is understood.
When she was transferred to an adult treatment team, Emily and her family frequently asked for her medication to be reviewed and for her to be given psychological therapy.
A plan was then put in place for her to restart her antidepressants, to be referred for therapy and to receive home visits from mental health staff.
The teenager was given her first assessment on May 5, 2023, but this was not received from a fully qualified therapist, the inquest heard. Emily took her own life just four days later.
Hours before her death, before school, Emily reportedly hugged her mother and said she thought her medication needed to be increased.
In a heartbreaking tribute to their daughter, Emily’s parents Renata and Quinton said: ‘Emily was a very talented person. She was passionate about music, she played cello and electric guitar.
‘She would spend hours creating her art at home. Emily loved nature, long walks in the forest and was also passionate about horse riding.
‘Emily wanted to be a costume designer for the theatre and film industry. She was a very hard-working person always dedicated to her work and was about to start university.
‘Emily was beautiful inside and out but sadly really struggled with her mental health. We tried everything we could to get her the care she deserved but she tragically took her own life leaving us behind in agony, pain and despair.
‘Our family and our lives have been broken into pieces and we now feel an emptiness which cannot be rebuilt.
‘Emily had so much promise and all the hopes, plans and dreams she had will never get to be fulfilled.
‘We’ve experienced the greatest loss that a mum and dad would ever have – the loss of a child. The circumstances around Emily’s death will affect us for the rest of our lives.
‘We’ll always be upset and angry at how when Emily needed the help the most, we feel she was let down.’
Concluding the inquest into her death, coroner Nadia Persaud said she ‘heard evidence relating to failures in the care provided to Emily’ did not find that any aspect of it directly contributed to her death.
The coroner also called the diagnostic work of the home treatment team as ‘inadequate’.
- For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
