A troubled teenager's family say she's being failed by mental health services after being repeatedly sent home from hospital following multiple suicide attempts.
Jenna Duffy has suffered a string of episodes which led to her being taken to A&E three times in the same week.
The 17-year-old has been left terrified of becoming "another statistic" and is now pleading for help to save her life, the Daily Record reports.
Tormented Jenna suffers from emotional unstable personality disorder and has tried to take her own life multiple times since the age of 15. The family claim she was sent her home from Monklands Hospital, Lanarkshire, after being told she was not at risk and "chastised" her for going to hospital during a pandemic.
Her heartbreaking story began when she was bullied and brutally attacked at school and her mental health rapidly deteriorated in recent years.
Jenna told the Record: "I can be suicidal, but I don't want to die. I feel like I'm not living. I'm just existing and nobody is listening."
She had previously received treatment in West Lothian where she lived with her mum, but moved to Cumbernauld to stay with her dad Adrian, 48, and step-mum Evonne, 44, at the end of last year.
Last Monday, her dad was forced to call police after a psychotic episode saw Jenna, who takes antipsychotic medication, threaten to harm herself with a kitchen knife.
A day later she was back in hospital again after being found on a train station bridge by a passing social worker with severe injuries caused by a piece of glass.
She was back in hospital again on Thursday, but once again sent home.
Adrian and Evonne told how they are so scared for her safety that they have slept on her bedroom floor and are afraid to let her out of their sight.
They also believe their efforts to get help for Jenna are being hampered by coronavirus delays and lockdowns.
Evonne said: "When she went to A&E on Monday mental health services refused to assess Jenna, saying she wasn't mentally unstable enough.
"On Tuesday, she was told, 'You can't keep coming up like this, you do know we've got a global pandemic on the go?'
"The staff at A&E are amazing, they cleaned her up and were really concerned for her. It's the mental health team who have been totally complacent.
"They have completely failed her. Two weeks ago they downgraded Jenna's risk. Jenna should never have been discharged from the hospital in the condition she was in.
"Me and her dad had a mattress on Jenna's bedroom floor and slept there to make her feel safe.
"Other nights we sit outside her bedroom until she goes to sleep and when she goes for a shower we sit outside the bathroom. We are exhausted.
"Jenna needs monitoring and we're getting zero help."
Jenna has been undergoing mental health treatment since 2018 and was previously admitted to a crisis unit in Edinburgh, but the family say her treatment hasn't gone far enough to control her episodes and she is now at breaking point.
Adrian said: "The medics were actually accusing Jenna of being on drugs. They wouldn't listen to her from the get-go.
"Everybody can see Jenna needs more help than she's getting, apart from the people who are supposed to do that."
Jenna's mum, Kirsty Johnstone, from Armadale, said her daughter was "crying out for help". The 49-year-old said: "Jenna has made several attempts on her life and the medications are not working. I've emailed Nicola Sturgeon and contacted my local MSP.
"Jenna needs to be in hospital.
"It will be a lengthy process for her to try new medications, assess her mood and begin therapy to teach her how to deal with the mental illness she's got."
Jenna said she has chosen to speak out about her illness in the hope it will also help other young people get the support they need.
She said: "I don't want to be just another statistic."
The family have now been told they can bypass A&E to get to more direct help for Jenna if she suffers an episode.
NHS Lanarkshire said it was managing a complaint and would respond directly to the family.
