Left behind: JULIE's Story
“THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW IT MADE MYSELF AND THE REST OF OUR FAMILY FEEL. WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW, THANK GOD SOMEBODY FOUND HIM.”
Meet Julie Newton, a 50-year-old receptionist, and mother of three from Hemel Hempstead.
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Julie Newton, faced every mothers nightmare; when she received a phone call from her eldest son frantically warning her that her youngest son Jake, 21, had been rushed into hospital after overdosing.
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What Julie sadly came to realise, is her son purposely intended to take his own life by overdosed on over the counter paracetamol after struggling to cope with his mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and OCD.
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"When anxiety disorders become the main control in your life, it makes life not worth living and that's what happened with my son."
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Jack, a talented young actor, was diagnosed with severe Obsessive and Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Body Dysmorphia Disorder (BDD) when he was 13, and was subject to heavy bullying during his adolescent school years.
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As a result of the extensive bullying, Jack's mental health took a decline and the 13-year-old school boy began to suffer with depression, whilst already struggling with OCD and BDD.
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"They found it very hard to get all the drugs out of his system, he was in hospital for a week - he was a very lucky man."
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With great sadness in her eyes, Julie described her once vibrant and energetic son, as someone who couldn't socialize, couldn't read and write anymore, and couldn't even wear clothes - spending up to seven hours in the shower scrubbing himself clean due to his obsessive compulsive disorder.
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Having already been admitted to The Maudsley, a renowned psychiatric hospital in south-west London, Jack was admitted into the Priory at age 15, which specialises in obsessive compulsive disorders.
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However, Jack was dismissed from the Priory after 15 months rehabilitation, due to what Julie describes as nothing other than, "the system letting my son down again." Immediately after leaving the Priory, Julie herself was in the middle of a difficult divorce, which Julie blames as being the catalyst in Jacks decision to take his own life. She believes that her divorce caused added stress for Jack, who was struggling to get control of his depression and OCD anxiety disorder.
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After many painstaking appeals to the local council and social services, Julie finally managed to get Jack into one of the top specialist centres in London, called Bedlam, which was featured on Channel 4. However, four months in, the authorities in charge of Jacks treatment stated that they couldn't afford to care for him anymore, which consequently resulted in Jack running away, with his family having no idea where he had gone.
He had no contact with anybody within the family for months, and it was not until Julie's eldest son, Ben, 25 managed to contact Jacks social worker, who thought that Ben knew what had happened to Jack, as someone had signed into hospital under Julie's eldest sons name.
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Without realising, Jacks social worker informed his elder brother that Jack had been in St Thomas' hospital in London for a week after taking a massive overdose of 150 paracetamol tablets in a park.