‘She knew she needed help’

Missing Marlborough woman Jessica Boyce twice tried to get mental health treatment in the weeks before she disappeared, her family says.

Boyce, 27, was referred to the Marlborough Mental Health Service, in Blenheim, by her doctor on February 12 and 21, but was turned away both times.

Her mother, Kay Johnstone, claims her daughter was turned away from the mental health clinic, former Witherlea House, as she was not actively trying to hurt herself. Boyce had depression, anxiety, memory problems due to a car accident two years earlier, and was selfmedicating, Johnstone said.

She was last seen on March 19. The family ute was found near Lake Chalice, in Mt Richmond Forest Park, 90 minutes west of Blenheim, on March 22, three days later.

‘‘She knew she needed help and she wanted help. She even told them that,’’ Johnstone said.

‘‘A couple weeks after that, she went missing. She was gone, just like that.’’

The pair first reached out to mental health services on February 12 after Johnstone found Boyce, who no longer lived with her, in a ‘‘bad mental state’’.

‘‘She didn’t know who I was or anything. She was in a bad way.

‘‘I brought her back to my house in Renwick, made a doctor’s appointment and got her in straight away,’’ she said.

‘‘Her doctor rang Witherlea House and demanded they see Jess straight away. We waited all day for them to see us.’’

She thought Boyce would be given immediate mental health care in Christchurch, Nelson or Blenheim, she said.

‘‘We went there [to] Witherlea House and they interviewed her and at the end of the day they gave her a couple of tablets. I was shocked.’’ Johnstone said she was not sure what the tablets were but they made Boyce tired, and she only took two.

‘‘Staff said she was not selfharming, and therefore she didn’t need to be put into a room. One has to wonder what they think self-harming is,’’ Johnstone said.

Staff told Johnstone to keep her daughter at home, which she questioned, saying Boyce was her own person.

Boyce disappeared from Johnstone’s house in Renwick several times over the following month, she said.

‘‘We even had one day when I picked her up on the side of the road and she jumped out of the car window. Is that not worthy of mental health treatment?

‘‘The reason she jumped out of the car was because she didn’t know me.’’

Boyce was given a second mental health assessment at Marlborough Mental Health Service on February 21, Johnstone said.

She was referred on to drug and alcohol treatment but missed her follow-up on March 6.

Johnstone recalled the last time she saw her daughter.

‘‘I looked at her on Tuesday [March 19], told her how beautiful she looked, and that was the last thing I said to her. I went to hospital, and came back, and she was gone,’’ she said.

‘‘I feel if they [mental health staff] had listened to me and the doctor, she would be in Nelson right now, getting the care she needs.’’

On March 22, three days after Boyce was last seen, Johnstone called the Marlborough Mental Health Service to see if Boyce would be given mental health treatment if she was found to have stolen Johnstone’s ute, which had been reported stolen to police. ‘‘She said: yes, she will be taken to a jail cell, have her mental health assessed and taken to a bed in Nelson. I said back to her, without a laugh: great, so all it takes to be admitted is to selfharm or to steal a car,’’ Johnstone said.

Johnstone hoped the health board would reassess its mental health criteria to prevent similar cases happening in future.

Nelson Marlborough Health mental health and addictions services general manager Jane Kinsey said the board was unable to comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.

‘‘We understand that the family must be feeling very distressed and concerned and our thoughts are with them.

‘‘We are available to offer support services and we encourage people who need our health services to get in touch with us directly when they are able to, or go to their GP for the support they need.’’

Keeping the search for Boyce going was getting hard, more than three weeks since she was last seen, Johnstone said.

‘‘I just want her home. We just need her home ... [or] we need closure. And if someone has taken her, we need information,’’ she said.

The family launched the website ‘‘Help Find Jess’’ last week, hoping it would encourage people to come forward with information.

The website said Boyce was last seen leaving Renwick in her mother’s red Holden Rodeo ute on March 19.

Johnstone’s ute was found on March 22 unlocked on the track leading up to Lake Chalice, with the keys still in the ignition, the website said.

Boyce’s phone, wallet, cash and phone, which was missing a sim card, were found inside the vehicle, the website said.

The ute has since been returned to Johnstone.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Blenheim police on 03 578 5279. Alternatively, anonymous tips can be passed on to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

People wanting to talk to a trained counsellor at any time 24/7 could phone or text 1737.