‘I was suicidal and the NHS didn’t know what to do’

Sherry Denness

Image caption

Sherry is now back home with her family and making plans for the future

It was the ninth time in the space of 10 days that Sherry Denness had tried to kill herself. “It felt like checkmate – there were no open doors or other ways for my life to turn, I just wanted to die,” she says.

Only just 18, Sherry has been diagnosed with a number of mental health conditions, including borderline personality disorder (BPD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

On seven of her nine suicide attempts, which took place in November last year, the teenager had landed in A&E, been patched up and deemed well enough to be sent home with no further help. Another time she’d taken all of her prescribed medication in one go and ended up in critical care for two days. But once the physical symptoms had been dealt with, to her parent’s despair, she was simply discharged and sent home.

‘I was suicidal and the NHS didn’t know what to do’