A Harpenden mum has spoken out after she claims her daughter was failed by mental health services.

Debbie explained that the worry of what her child went through and the battle to get support led her to contact the Herts Ad.

She said: “Mental health teams are letting young people down. I am sharing our fight as I’m desperate to make a change for everyone that suffers.”

During her daughter’s time at secondary school in Harpenden, her mum explained there was bullying, including social media messages telling her to self harm, which resulted in her becoming isolated and insecure.

Debbie said: “I knew deep down there was something wrong. She started to have panic attacks and tried to take her own life twice.

“We went to the GP who made a referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), who just wrote her off.”

She added: “I fought every day to get her some help. GPs said they could offer her medication.”

In the last two years, her daughter has suffered with PTSD and has had two major attacks leading to mental health assessments.

Both times she has been given numbers for the Samaritans, but CAMHS said there is nothing else they can do.

However, last week a Harpenden GP was so concerned she telephoned the mental health team demanding help and now that GP has phoned her daily to make sure she’s alive.

Debbie’s daughter was taken to Watford Hospital and then transferred to Hemel. “She was there for 20 minutes then taken home and told someone from the St Albans team would call her.”

Three days later, they called and assessed her over FaceTime for two hours, and told her case would be taken back to the team.

Debbie added: “My daughter poured her heart out to this stranger, and begged for help. She received a call a day later where she was told that she wouldn’t be supported by the mental health team.

“I’m appalled with the mental health team and the lack of services in Hertfordshire.”

In response, a spokesperson for Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We strive to ensure that all our service users have a positive experience with our trust, which is why we always take any feedback or complaints we receive extremely seriously. Due to confidentiality, we are unable to comment on an individual’s care or treatment. We encourage people with any concerns to contact us via our Patient Advice and Liaison Service.”