Radio Aire backs call for counsellor in every school
We're teaming up with a Morley mum whose teenage son took his own life
Last updated 25th Jan 2018
Radio Aire’s teaming up with a Leeds mum whose 15-year-old son took his own life in his bedroom because he became so stressed revising for his GCSEs.
Our Problem Shared campaign is calling for every school to have a counsellor, so that every pupil has somebody to talk to if they’re struggling.
“He went out the night before,” says Emma Oliver from Morley.
“He went out with his friends, I gave him some money and they bought a pizza. Then he came home that morning, sat on the sofa, he ate his breakfast, had a bath. Then he went up to his room.
“I was up there in the afternoon. I saw him 20 minutes before, I tapped him on the head and said ‘you alright?’ I came downstairs to make a roast dinner. And in 20 minutes he’d committed suicide.”
Despite giving Daniel CPR when she found him, Emma couldn’t save her son. An inquest concluded he was suffering with acute anxiety.
Emma says she began noticing changes in Daniel’s behaviour at the start of the year, when he was studying for his mock GCSEs. His year were the first to sit exams under the new, more challenging system being rolled out by the government, which puts more focus on one final set of tests. Despite getting As and A*s, Daniel became fixated on revising, and was having trouble eating and sleeping.
The pressure eventually became so much that he decided to take his own life in February.
Research commissioned by the government earlier this year found an estimated one in 10 children and young people have a diagnosable mental disorder – the equivalent of three in every classroom.
Since deciding to share what happened to Daniel, Emma says she’s been shocked at the amount of messages she’s received from local parents worried about their own children.
“I could not believe the amount of people that got in touch with me and said they’re worried about their children who are sitting their exams next year,” she says.
“Their exams don’t start till May, and they’re already stressing about it.
“They start getting stressed from the age of six when they’re sitting their SATs. I’ve spoken to primary school teachers since Daniel passed away. When you’ve got six-year-olds crying in the playground because of their SATs, you’ve got mental health issues right there. It’s wrong.
“I would hate for another child to go through what he did. And end his life when he had so much to live for.”
You can sign our Problem Shared petition here