'We didn't have any inkling it would take a tragic turn'

Flossie Newson was just 13 when she took her own life, as her mother, Caroline, talks to Holly Evans about the warning signs and how to alleviate the epidemic of youth suicide

- Holly Evans

“What I want to get across to parents is that this could happen to anyone,” the mother of Florence Newson says.

It has been more than a year since her 13-year-old daughter took her own life after a day at school, taking her family, school friends and teachers completely by surprise.

In the weeks before she died, Caroline Newson had noticed a change in her usually bright and bubbly daughter, who was known as Flossie. Yet while she was aware of her daughter’s anxiety over her friendships at school, nothing could have prepared her for how dramatic her mental health decline was.

“There were no signs to say this was going to escalate, and within a month she wouldn’t be here any more. It was a really fast escalation and it was really shocking,” she says over Zoom.

She is now calling for schools and the Labour government to take heed to parents’ warnings, and to ensure that children are taught about suicide, to prevent other families from enduring similar heartbreak.

Flossie is among the 200 schoolchildren who take their own life each year, according to figures released by the suicide prevention charity Papyrus, with her family believing that more could be done to raise awareness among schools and parents.

A YouGov survey among teachers also found that 10 per cent of participants had a student share suicidal thoughts with them at least once a term, with only half feeling confident they could provide adequate support.

For Caroline, her daughter had begun expressing anxiety over her friendships towards the end of primary school. After realising that she was feeling low during the evenings, her parents arranged for her to receive some help and she soon flourished after moving into secondary school.