Published on 12, July, 2020
My 15 year old daughter is at a mainstream school and has no friends. Her mental health is deteriorating and I’m very worried about her. Does anyone have any advice about how I can help her? I’ve found a few forums but there doesn’t seem to be anything that focuses on teen girls. She says she feels worthless and so needs to feel that someone her own age is interested in her and what she has to say.
So sorry to hear this. Sounds like me aged 15 (43 years ago). My mum was very understanding of my behaviour and feelings. She had struggled in adolescence herself so I never felt weird. I was talking to her about this the other day and she reminded me she had asked a psychotherapist friend to speak to me. The conclusion was it was normal teenage angst - very few people considered autism as a possibility back then.
Whilst not specifically for girls the YoungMinds website has lots of useful information including links to other organisations, there's a parents helpline too - they might be able to signpost you to services for teen girls. I've just used the problems at school page as an example, there are pages for other issues too: https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/feelings-and-symptoms/problems-at-school/
As your daughter's mental health is deteriorating CAMHS would seem to be an appropriate option, but do emphasise that she is autistic and this needs to be taken into account when her mental health is assessed. Keeping your daughter safe is so important and unfortunately becoming part of the mental health system carries its own risks.
Have you contacted the NAS helpline to see what they suggest? The parent to parent service NAS offers might be helpful too.