CBC News New Brunswick1 month ago
2:01More than 100 people gathered in person to pay their respects after the Fredericton teenager died by suicide earlier in the week. Lexi Daken s death has provoked calls for change in mental health services.2:01
The teenager died by suicide less than a week after she was sent home from the emergency room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton.
A school guidance counsellor had taken her to the hospital on Feb. 18 because she was concerned about her mental health.
After waiting more than eight hours, Daken left with a referral and without seeing a mental health professional.
FREDERICTON Mental health advocates in New Brunswick say the province’s recent pledge to provide faster and more accessible mental health and addiction services is a welcome, but overdue form of help that can’t come soon enough. On Feb. 23, New Brunswick health minister Dorothy Shephard revealed the province’s five-year addictions and mental health plan. According to Shephard, the goal is to improve access to services, provide early intervention support, and reduce the impacts of drug addiction. “I want everyone to know that this plan has clear goals, and will have regular check-ins to ensure all partners are accountable,” said Shephard during Tuesday’s press conference.
Posted: Feb 26, 2021 6:57 PM AT | Last Updated: February 26
Lexi Daken was a student at Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton. (Submitted by Chris Daken)
Horizon Health Network says it is reviewing the care a 16-year-old received at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton last week before she took her own life. As with other matters of this nature, Horizon will be reviewing our internal processes to determine where improvements could have been made, Jean Daigle, vice-president community, said in an email sent on Friday.
Shawna Betts said her 16-year-old daughter, who had previously attempted suicide, was taken to the emergency room on Feb. 18 by a school guidance counsellor who was concerned about her mental health.
Posted: Feb 26, 2021 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: February 26
Lexi Daken was a Grade 10 student at Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton. (Submitted by Chris Daken)
Chris Daken said anyone who knew his 16-year-old daughter would say she was the last person they d expect to take her own life.
Her outgoing nature and her constant smile masked the pain she was experiencing inside. Every picture has a smile on her face, yet the kid was suffering so badly, and she just hid that with a smile, said her mother, Shawna Betts.
On Wednesday, the Grade 10 student at Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton died by suicide at her home in Maugerville, outside the city.
FREDERICTON Lexi Daken loved to ski and play softball, travel and joke around. A 97 per cent wasn t enough, it had to be 100 – and she mused about going into medicine. But her parents say there was something troubling the 16-year-old. They noticed their fun-loving daughter wasn t herself last summer, a couple of months after the pandemic began. We tried to get, you know, typical teenager, they don t want to talk to their parents right? her father said. So, once school started, then she seen the guidance counsellor. Sitting at their kitchen table on Thursday, her parents Shawna Betts and Chris Daken, and sister Piper, shared that Lexi attempted suicide in November.