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A distraught father has warned parents not to be complacent when it comes to their child’s mental health after his young daughter tried to take her own life.
For years, Joe Saunders thought his daughter Grace, 12, was ‘the perfect child’, unaware of the hidden struggles beneath her cheerful smile.
Tragedy almost occurred on Australia Day when she deliberately overdosed on prescription medication.
‘We found a journal full of writings about the pain she has about not fitting in and her friends don’t accept her and that she’s a burden to everybody,’ Mr Saunders said.
‘She had suicide notes written to us all individually, which looked to have been written over a couple of weeks, so I don’t think it was a rash decision.’
Grace has three younger sisters, and it was one of them who told their mum and dad that she was acting strangely and was ‘talking funny’.
‘About half an hour later Grace walked into our bedroom and seemed a little distraught and we didn’t think too much of it but I was trying to get her to calm down,’ Mr Saunders said.
‘She then zoned out and started interacting with something in the corner of the room that she could see, but we couldn’t see, and at that point, we thought something must be going wrong, so we called an ambulance.
Joe Saunders with daughter Grace before her suicide attempt
For years, Joe thought his daughter Grace was ‘the perfect child’, unaware of the hidden struggles lurking beneath her cheerful smile
‘Initially, we were worried that she had a stroke or there was something going on with her brain.
While the paramedics were assessing Grace, her parents found the prescription medication in her room then another one of her sisters told them to look at her TikTok account which revealed suicidal messaging.
‘She’s been the perfect child and she’s so smart and has never been in trouble in any way,’ Mr Saunders said.
‘We got a little complacent and there’s things I’ve spent plenty of hours agonising over during the past week. I’ve been asking myself if this or that was a warning sign.
‘The main thing I’d say is, as parents, you’re not psychologists. If there’s something wrong, you need to engage professionals but we didn’t see the warning signs.’
Mr Saunders said it was too early for Grace to open up and discuss what happened, as she’s monitored 24 hours a day in a hospital north of Brisbane.
Grace (second from the left) and her family at Christmas time last year
But at least the Kallangur family will have the opportunity to discuss their daughter’s mental health with her, unlike so many parents who have lost a child to suicide without realising something was wrong.
‘We’re so lucky that we’ve got another chance to have these conversations and get her the help she needs,’ Mr Saunders said.
‘I’ve had so many parents reach out to me saying they didn’t get that second chance.’
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with the coming costs of Grace’s treatment as well as any help her younger sisters may need.
The family is trying to raise $20,000 for their long road ahead.
‘My wife lost her job a couple of weeks ago which wasn’t ideal and I’ve only just returned to the workforce after having an accident last year so I wasn’t working for a few months,’ Mr Saunders said.
‘There’s a lot things we’ll need to do for her when she gets home. We need to look at the different types of therapy we can put her through and her three other siblings need to be looked after too.
‘She wants to be a singer-songwriter or an anime illustrator. She has so much to live for and so much to offer this world.’
For confidential 24-hour support in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
