'We lost our daughter to a terrible mental health condition - this is our advice'

The parents of a young woman found dead in her bedroom at a private mental health unit in south Manchester have spoken of their heartbreak following an inquest exploring her final days and hours.

Leah Taylor, 20, was discovered unresponsive at the Eleanor Hospital - an independent women's mental health facility on Palatine Road in Didsbury - in June last year.

She suffered from emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) and had been transferred to the unit last May from an NHS hospital for specialist treatment.

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Leah, from Urmston, Trafford, had been detained under the Mental Health Act. She was on 15 minute-minute observations, an inquest into her death hear.

During a period between checks, that she deliberately harmed herself, causing fatal injuries. A jury recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

Jurors concluded Leah's death was caused or contributed to by decisions not to increase or enhance observations.. They said she should not have been left alone following a previous self-harming incident a few minutes earlier.

Leah's heartbroken parents Helen and Paul called for changes to mental health provisions in the wake of the conclusion. They said she would still be here if her 'care had been managed differently'.

Helen and Paul have now spoken to the Manchester Evening News of their heartbreak. Leah was diagnosed with EUPD - also known as borderline personality disorder. People with the condition struggle to regulate their emotions and often experience overwhelming and exhausting shifts in emotions.

Leah's parents said she had started to have difficulties as she was a teenager. Helen said: "It's a very complex condition. There's a number of factors involved in diagnosis. She was very emotionally unstable, she didn't like herself.

"She was impulsive, she would lash out even at the smallest thing. She ran away or self-harmed, or she would break things. She just couldn't regulate her emotions, she didn't know how to deal with disappointment.

"One minute she was happy as anything - the next hour, she would change completely. That was one of the hardest parts - you didn't know how to deal with her in crisis."

"Which is normal for that diagnosis," dad Paul said. "The support really isn't there. With more and more kids with mental health difficulties, there isn't enough in schools as well.

"In Leah's case, she felt like she was unworthy of having the attention to help her in the moment."

Paul's witness statement drew attention to an incident the day before his daughter died. Leah, the jury heard, had been told an incident in which she had become aggressive towards a staff member would be reported to police.

"Knowing Leah, this would have caused her great distress," Paul told the M.E.N.

He added: "I do think that anybody with that diagnosis feels like they're not deserving of attention. Validating someone is quite important. It would be easy to say 'get as much support as you can from the services that are offered', but in all honesty there aren't the services out there.

"I would suggest for anyone that's going through it to not stop talking about it. You've got to realise that you do need to reach out and you do need to talk. Just keep people close - and just keep talking."

Helen said: "If you've got somebody in your family who's suffering with that illness, you do need to reach out. Keep your friends and family close.

"You've got to work together. Don't give up, do everything that you possibly can and put them first. Just keep talking... don't fall out, nobody's at fault - everybody's going through it all together."

Paying tribute to Leah, her mum added: "She loved to dance, she was part of a dance troupe. She managed to perform at Wembley with Pixie Lott. We've got a few of her art pieces framed.

"She was always the centre of attention. Everyone was always around her, she was just very, very happy. She always wanted to try new things, she was just a generally happy person."

Paul added: "She was just a loving, happy little girl."

In a statement following the inquest, her family said: "Leah brought so much love and laughter into all our lives. She was an inspiration, and she has left a permanent mark on all that knew her. She was a gift that kept on giving, she truly was one of a kind.

"Leah was our light and our only focus in life. We were a team, a team of three people who adored each other. Now she is missing, our light has gone out."

A spokesperson for Eleanor EHC Limited, which runs the facility, said: "Our thoughts remain with Leah’s family, and we would like to offer our sincere condolences to them once more. Her death was an unfortunate incident that not only shocked her family but us, as an organisation too.

"To honour Leah’s memory, we have reached out to her family and invited them to join as 'friends', with the view to plant a memorial in dedication of Leah in the gardens of Eleanor."