On anniversary of son's suicide, mother calls for changes to mental health system
Kingsley, 19, was on a waiting list to see a psychiatrist when he died
A year after Kerri Matthews' son, Kingsley, took his own life, she says it's still painful to talk about him.
The 19-year-old was on a waiting list to see a psychiatrist when he died.
On Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of her son's suicide, Matthews hosted a talk about him at Moncton's Bore View Park, discussing the need for change in the province's mental health system — which she said failed Kingsley repeatedly.
"I took him to the hospital and he wasn't bleeding and he didn't have a heart attack, so to them it wasn't serious," she said.
"To a parent, it's life-threatening serious, it's like they're bleeding to death."
Struggled with severe depression
Matthews said her son started showing signs of mental illness when he was 12 years old, and things escalated from there.
'Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not an emergency."- Kerri Matthews, mother of Kingsley
Kingsley struggled with severe depression and drug addiction, she said.
She didn't feel her son got the help he needed at either the Moncton Hospital or the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre.
Trying to find help for him was frustrating and overwhelming, and left her feeling hopeless, she said.
"Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not an emergency," she said.
Then, six months before Kingsley died, his beloved grandfather passed away due to cancer.
"For his whole life my dad was there for him as a father figure so it just completely broke Kingsley," said Matthews.
"Whatever he had left within him that was keeping him going, it was gone, it was not there anymore, he was completely lost, completely broken."
Stigma 'has to be lifted'
Some of those who attended Matthews' presentation understood how she felt.
Louise Boulter said her son also struggled with mental illness and spent time in the hospital.
'It could very well have been my son."- Louise Boulter, support group organizer
Boulter said she started a support group for caregivers trying to help their loved ones.
"I came basically because if not for the grace of God ... it could very well have been my son," she said.
Matthews, clutching a photo of her son, said it's still painful to talk about what happened.
But the stigma surrounding mental health has to be lifted, and if Kingsley knew what she was doing, she's sure he'd approve.
"One thing that he always told me, and he always made a point to tell me, and most times he would give me a big hug when he did, is that I'm so proud of you mom," she said, choking up.
"I'm so proud of you, 'cause I've done a lot of things to change my own life, and he did get to see that and I find so much comfort in that. And I know if he could see me now he would just be so proud of me."
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CBC News contacted the Department of Health for comment on what's being done to improve wait times for mental health services.
In an emailed statement, the department responded that "supporting those with addictions and mental health challenges is a key pillar of the New Brunswick Family Plan."
The government will continue "to concentrate its efforts on ensuring better outcomes in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and addictions for New Brunswickers."