Drugs used to treat teenagers who have been diagnosed with internet addiction and depression are placed on a table at Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Center in Beijing February 22, 2014.
IN PHOTO: Drugs used to treat teenagers who have been diagnosed with internet addiction and depression are placed on a table at Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Center in Beijing February 22, 2014. As growing numbers of young people in China immerse themselves in the cyber world, spending hours playing games online, worried parents are increasingly turning to boot camps to crush addiction. Military-style boot camps, designed to wean young people off their addiction to the internet, number as many as 250 in China alone. Picture taken February 22, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

A 19-year old teenage boy from Yellowknife, NWT, Canada was taken out of life support and died on Sunday, April 27, due to self-inflicted harm. The family’s boy said that more efforts from the healthcare sector of the territory should have been done.

Timothy Henderson was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. His parents believe that it was not Timothy’s intention to kill himself. They said that the self-inflicted harm reported to have been committed was the teen’s way of crying out for help but has resulted in fatal results. They also said that medical practitioners told them that self-harm is Timothy's way to cope with stress.

Timothy’s family noted that the teen’s self-harm activities became a serious cause of worry at the beginning of the year. They then brougth him to psychiatric facilities, thinking that these activities may induce danger. However, the family said that the teen was always released after a day or two without concrete discharge instructions, treatment plan or follow-up schedule.

"Timothy was continually dismissed and invalidated," Ian Henderson, Timothy’s dad, told CBC News. "How often does a child have to reach out? How often do they expect that they will be dismissed before someone begins to take notice? How do we stop the body count?"

Timothy was an intelligent young child who overcame the many struggles he had to face in his lifetime, said Connie Boraski, his mom. She recalled that Timothy started feeling the lack of support from the healthcare sector when he turned 17, when he was no longer qualified for paediatric services. The boy then started to feel frustrated and later developed depression and mood swings because of the notion that resources would not be available for him anymore, Connie added.

This month, Timothy was admitted in Stanton Territorial Hospital where he expressed his suicidal tendencies. He was discharged two days after. According to the N.W.T.'s Mental Health Act, doctors can involuntarily admit patients who are at risk of inflicting self-harm for up to 48 hours.

Timothy will be laid to rest on May 2 at 2: 30 p.m. The ceremonies will take place at the DND Gym in Yellowknife.

To contact the writer, email rinadoctor00@gmail.com.

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