'Our hearts have been broken beyond repair since Chloe left us'

TEENAGER 'PASSED FROM PILLAR TO POST' TOOK HER OWN LIFE AFTER SHE WAS ABLE TO 'SLIP THROUGH GAPS' IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

- By DEBORAH HALL

THE family of a teenager who took her own life after discharging herself from mental health services when she turned 18 say she was allowed to "slip through gaps in the system" and that they were left with a "complete lack of support" in trying to help her. An inquest into the death of Chloe Barber, of Driffield, East Yorkshire, highlighted a string of failures or missed opportunities in relation to her treatment and care.

In the wake of it, the coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report over concerns there is not necessarily a clear path nationwide for transition between children's mental health and adult services.

Chloe was first referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in 2017 after taking an overdose, having suffered from serious bullying at school and on social media, which her family reported to police. Over the following four years, she continued to struggle with her mental health, with her family saying she was "passed from pillar to post" by Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.

In early 2021 Chloe was hospitalised in Sheffield, where she remained until July of that year and on discharge, aged 17, she returned home. Due to transfer to adult mental health services, Chloe struggled to engage with CAMHS and the Complex Emotional Needs Service (CENS) in the community and continued to engage in deliberate self-harm.

In November 2021, she was found by her 15-year-old brother to have taken her own life. At the time of Chloe's death, her case had been closed by both CAMHS and the CENS and adult social care had also declined to accept an earlier referral concerning Chloe.

'We feel there was a complete lack of support for the family throughout'