Our Suicidal Teenagers

What is it like to care for a thirteen-year-old suicidal daughter? This is a heart-wrenching true story of Edna’s six years’ journey with Elizabeth, her youngest of eight children. On being allowed to take her daughter home from hospital overnight, Edna is told by the psychiatrist not to ‘let her out of your sight as we do not know her flip-point.’ Read the anguished tale of this mother’s struggle to find help including pastoral care while her own family is falling apart. Edna, in her desolation, turns to prayer. She completes her BA (distance learning) and continues with a Master’s degree, determined to research if there is any support, including Church support, available to carers where a family member has severe mental illness. The Examination Board awards her a distinction for her dissertation and ‘hopes that the research will be published in some form.’ This story of Edna and Elizabeth’s struggle through suffering, tears and hope, is an eye-opener on how mental ill-health can devastate a family. Edna relates how she finds a way through; and gives details of her research and of her initiation to form a pastoral support group. This book is an asset to raising awareness on this vital ministry as well as giving hope and consolation and to know that we are not alone.