OVER SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGES
‘Limit kids to 2hrs a time’ call
Alisha says: “I didn’t cope for quite a while. My mum had to sleep in my room for about three months as I was getting nightmares. I’d see Sarah hanging from my ceiling and would wake up screaming. I had to be put on sleeping tablets.
“But something good did come out of her death. It caused something to snap inside me. I became determined to live life for both of us.
“I haven’t self-harmed since. It was a complete reality check for me. I started eating properly. And I felt so much better in such a short time.”
At 15, a much-changed Alisha plucked up the courage to follow the advice of her grandad to join a modelling agency. She was snapped up – and within two years she was crowned Miss Newcastle, and landed the Miss England title last year.
When Alisha competed in the Miss PARENTS will be advised to limit kids to two-hour screen sessions in Government proposals next week.
Chief Medical Officer
Sally Davies is expected to publish guidelines aimed at protecting children’s health – the first move of its kind.
Parents will be urged to strictly ration use of video games, phones, tablets and TV. Advice is expected to include taking breaks every two hours and avoiding social media before bedtime.
Dame Sally may also call for more studies on possible links between social media use and mental ill-health.
Pictures: JOHN GLADWIN & PAUL CARROLL
World finals before Christmas, she paid an emotional tribute to Sarah.
She says: “I was asked, ‘If you could eat dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be?’ I said I’d like one last meal with Sarah as I never got to say goodbye. I want to tell her how thankful I am for our relationship.
“I feel like she sacrificed her life for mine. If she hadn’t died, I think it could
have been me instead. It gave me the shock I needed. I had thought about taking my own life. But Sarah’s death made me realise it wasn’t an option. I’d had so much pain losing her and I couldn’t do that to my family. I’ve learned to love myself unconditionally – I’ve never been happier.
“Now I get Instagram messages from some of the girls who used to bully me. They’d call me a bitch – now they want to be my gym buddy. I’m not nasty to them. I don’t want to stoop to their level. But I won’t be their gym buddy.”
Alisha, now dating fellow model Joe West, 23, is taking a year out from a forensic crime scene investigation course at Teesside University to carry out her Miss England duties. She says: “If telling my story helps even one other teenager who is struggling like I was, then it will have been worth it.”
A spokesman for Instagram said: “We do not allow content that promotes or encourages suicide or self-injury, and we will remove it as soon as we are aware.
“Over the past week we have had a team of engineers working round the clock to make changes to make it harder for people to search for and find selfharm content.”
He added that anybody searching for #Ana will be directed to organisations offering support.