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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Nathan Standley & Mellissa Dzinzi

"I was a danger to myself": The harrowing mental health battle behind this Leeds student's smile

Behind this beaming smile, is a suicidal Leeds university student struggling to cope.

Saffron Taylor, a student at Leeds Beckett University, has now spoken out about her mental health battle.

The 19-year-old from Hull, who has borderline personality disorder, overdosed four times in the days leading up to her hospitalisation at St James University Hospital last week.

HullLive reports that Saffron was sectioned after making repeated attempts on her own life but says she was discharged from Miranda House after just one night without receiving any proper assessment or treatment.

Before arriving at the facility, she had been made subject to an order under Section Two of the Mental Health Act.

This happens when someone with a mental disorder needs to be detained for a short time for assessment, and possibly treatment, to protect the health and safety of themselves or others.

After being kept under constant supervision following the sectioning in hospital, Saffron said she was transferred to the Avondale Clinical Decisions Unit, based at Miranda House in Gladstone Street, in Hull, on the evening of Wednesday, August 26.

She said the belongings that could have been a danger to her, such as her phone charger, were taken from her as she arrived and she was allocated a room at the facility.

Saffron said: "I was a complete danger to myself.

"I felt really unsafe and really frightened, but it felt like a prison. Being there just made me feel even worse."

After just one night, she said she was woken up by a nurse the next morning to be told she was going home.

Following a brief discussion with a consultant, she said she was told she was "obviously feeling better", given her belongings back and discharged from the facility.

She then left alone and walked to get a bus back home to Bilton. Her family had not been informed of her release until she rang them herself after being discharged.

"I wasn't assessed, I literally woke up and they just let me go," she said.

"There was no assessment, no treatment - and that was the only reason I was there.

"I'd been the subject of a serious section as a suicide risk, I'd been in hospital for overdosing six times the week before in Leeds. I was sent there to get better, but it just made me worse.

"I was absolutely desperate to get out of Miranda House, obviously, but regardless it was their duty of care to keep me safe while under section, which they didn’t.

"They discharged me and I just walked off to go home - I could've just gone and killed myself straight away. It's a terrifying thought now."

Family friend Lynda Windship, 60, said she was horrified when she got a call from Saffron to say she had been discharged and had just left the facility alone.

"She just called me to say she had just walked out of Miranda House and she was coming round, I just couldn't believe it," she said.

"I said, 'What do you mean you're coming?' And she explained that she'd just been unsectioned and allowed to go.

"I was panicking. From there to here she could've easily tried to take her life again, it was terrifying for her family.

"I rang the facility and asked for an explanation but the only one they could give me was that she had wanted to go - but of course she wanted to go. She's mentally ill. She had been sectioned, she was a danger to herself.

"She was supposed to be having treatment - she was there for a reason. I couldn't make any sense of it. I'm just mortified."

What the NHS say

A spokeswoman for Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust said: "It is the position of the Trust that we cannot comment on individual cases, as we prefer and welcome discussion directly with the service users and families who are affected.

"The Avondale Clinical Decisions Unit, based at Miranda House, provides a period of assessment for people experiencing a mental health crisis.

"This means that the unit provides care for up to 72 hours, in a safe environment, which enables the team to assess an individual's needs and determine with them what would best help them moving forwards.

"We always strive to provide the best possible care to the people and communities we serve.

"Patients or their families who wish to raise a concern can do so by contacting our complaints and patient liaison team and we will do our utmost to resolve them."

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