A Cramlington mum who lost her beloved daughter to suicide at the age of just 12 is set to meet Government ministers in a bid to save the lives of other children.
In October 2020, Jay Patterson's 'fearless', 'kind' daughter Charley took her own life, six months after she was told she might wait three years for the mental health support she'd asked for. Ever since, Jay and her family have been campaigning to improve children's mental health services in Charley's name.
And they've now been invited to make their case to Government. On June 23, the family will meet Gillian Keegan, Minister of State for Care and Mental Health, to set out the suggestions that they've dubbed 'Charley Law'.
Read more: 'Your feelings matter': Amble mum's vital message to teens after tragic death of daughter, 17
They hope to inspire new legislation, making statutory limits on waiting times for youngsters and mandating support while they're on waiting lists. They want to see all first appointments with children's mental health services take place within a month of referral; weekly support meetings and more regular meetings with all key players in a child's life, including doctors, parents, teachers and social services.
Jay was contacted by officials to set up the meeting following a long-running campaign, in which she particularly credits the support of journalists a MetroRadio, who brought her fight to the attention of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
She said: "It feels like it's been a long time coming. We've got a couple of questions to ask, thoughts and ideas that we want to express to them, and some criticisms.
"Obviously we know that it's not going to be an over night thing because it's impossible to change something like this overnight, but we want to discuss the waiting lists and how things can change."
Although the mum-of-five wishes the support she's fighting for had been in place for Charley, she takes comfort in the idea that her story could stop others from suffering the same way.
She said: "It feels amazing and it is kind of unbelievable at the same time. Of course, if the help had been there in the first place we might not have lost Charley, there's a strong possibility that we wouldn't have. But it feels good to be able to say that we want other people to not have to go through what we've been through.
"We are still getting people get in touch with us now to express the same issues, it seems to be the same experience across the board, it's such a long wait and children are feeling ignored.
"People seem to think that because they are kids and because they are young that they don't have a voice or opinions, but these children need to be listened to."
And she believes her caring daughter, who was always happy to help others, would be proud of her legacy.
Jay added: "I think Charley would be really proud that this is being done in her name, she would be extremely happy that she would be helping other people."
Read next:
