The mum of a teaching assistant who reached out to a therapist before taking her own life says she will always wonder “what if” her daughter’s message had been answered.

Emilia Marsh, from Boughton-under-Blean near Faversham, tragically took her own life in November, two-and-a-half weeks after being discharged from a private mental health clinic.

The 20-year-old, who worked at Canterbury Academy and was known as Millie, had received three weeks of live-in treatment for anxiety and depression at the Promis Residential Clinic - known as Hay Farm - in Deal.

Before taking her own life, Millie had reached out by text message to a Hay Farm therapist she had been assigned during her stay.

But, unbeknown to her, the therapist was on annual leave and did not receive her message until returning to work - by which time it was too late.

An inquest into Millie’s death opened in March, but was adjourned until this week while Promis carried out an internal investigation, examining the point of contact for patients when their therapist is on holiday.

The inquest resumed at Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone on Monday, when coroner Katrina Hepburn ran through the findings of the investigation.

"I will always think; ‘What if? What if somebody did answer Millie?’..."

The hearing was told how Millie - who previously worked at Dogs Trust Canterbury in Chestfield - was voluntarily admitted as an inpatient on September 25, suffering from “extreme depression” and anxiety.

But she responded well to treatment and built a strong bond with her focal therapist.

When she was discharged on October 16, her state of mind had greatly improved and she was deemed “low risk”.

But her mental health took a turn on October 31, following a split with her boyfriend.

Millie reached out to her therapist that day, “asking for help” in a short text message.

Her mum, Sukina Fagg, followed this up the next day by messaging the therapist to inform her that Millie’s relationship with her boyfriend had ended and asking her to contact Millie.

But the family was unaware the therapist was on annual leave.

She found the messages upon returning to work on November 3, and immediately messaged Millie before making several more attempts to contact her by text and phone.

But later that day, she was informed by a member of Millie’s family that she had tragically taken her own life.

Millie’s mum had found her dead at her home in The Street, Boughton-under-Blean, shortly after 2pm.

Hay Farm clinic manager Sarah Lodge told Monday’s hearing how patients are given two phone numbers - for a nursing phone and a healthcare assistants’ phone, respectively, that are “always at the clinic and always on, with a member of staff”.

But she said Hay Farm is clear with discharged patients that is does not offer a service through which they “can make contact at all times”.

She added that they are told to contact 999 or visit A&E if they are in crisis.

But Millie’s mum, Sukina Fagg, told how she had been under the impression Millie’s focal worker was there to provide ongoing support.

“Nobody at any point spoke to me about the after-care or said ‘this is what happens when Millie leaves’,” she said. “It was sold to me as an ongoing service.”

She added: “Unfortunately, we’ll never know if [getting a response to her message] would have made a difference to Millie.

“But it’s something I will always think; ‘What if? What if somebody did answer Millie?’”

But Ms Lodge said the fact Millie sent just one message to her therapist shows she “understood it was not an immediate response or crisis number”.

“I feel that we are very clear about the service that we can offer and in terms of after-care,” she added.

“I feel in some ways it’s unfair to suggest that had Millie spoken to [her therapist] things would have been different.

“There were lots of different methods of contact available to Miss Marsh and we’ve always been extremely clear with clients that we’re not a crisis intervention service, and we don’t offer a 24-hour response.”

Millie’s death was ruled a suicide.

Summing up her findings, Ms Hepburn said: “Had [the therapist] not been on annual leave and had Emilia sent her a message, it seems likely that she would have responded.

“But I’m satisfied this is not a particular service that’s being provided.

“There are other services and methods of contact. She did have other options available to her, which were not taken.”

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