An A-level student took her own life at her sixth-form college after struggling with her mental health throughout her teens, an inquest has heard.

Lauren Jackson, 17, appeared to be looking forward to the future, beginning driving lessons and visiting various universities where she hoped to study.

But she hanged herself at the beginning of the school day at Richard Huish College in Taunton, Somerset in February, a month after telling doctors her antidepressants were no longer working well.

She was found unresponsive by PE teacher Lisa Wren. Other staff members rushed to help, performing CPR and phoning the emergency services.

Lauren was taken to hospital by air ambulance to intensive care but a scan revealed that she had suffered a hypoxic brain injury and doctors advised her parents that there was a high chance she wouldn’t survive.

She died two days later with her family by her bedside, the inquest at the Old Municipal Buildings in Taunton heard this week.

Lauren Jackson, 17, took her own life at her sixth-form college after struggling with her mental health

She hanged herself at the beginning of the school day at Richard Huish College in Somerset in February

Lauren’s mother, Estelle Jackson, told the inquest how she received a phone call from the college at 9.15am informing her that her daughter had been found unresponsive.

Mrs Jackson said she tried to start walking but her legs ‘stopped working’ and she fell to the floor, before a colleague picked her up and then drove her to the college.

From there, Mrs Jackson, joined by her husband Graham, accompanied Lauren to the hospital, where they remained for 48 hours until her death, her written statement said.

Mrs Jackson said her daughter had become increasingly insular during her teens, rarely talked with her, and ‘did not view us as parents’. But she said Lauren’s behaviour had not seemed out of the ordinary in the days leading up to her death: she had booked driving lessons and appeared to be planning for a university future after completing her A-levels.

Medical records showed Lauren had mental health concerns from the age of 14, visiting her GP three years before her death to report experiencing panic attacks, OCD and intrusive thoughts. She also revealed she had self-harmed.

Lauren was referred to mental health support and had 33 meetings with mental health and children’s services professionals.

She was offered therapy and later prescribed the antidepressant sertraline, initially at 25mg a day, with the dose eventually raised to 150mg.

While Lauren initially reported the medication was having a positive effect, by January this year, a month before her death, she told her key worker that its effect was diminishing.

In a face-to-face meeting she was ‘shivering, crying and feeling unsafe’.

Dr Arjuna Pattapola listed Lauren’s conditions: she was suffering from emotional dysregulation, attachment difficulties, dysregulated sleeping, dysregulated eating, panic attacks, psychosomatic complaints, and was having difficulty interacting with both her peers and her family.

Lauren also said strange things had been happening to her, including a bar of soap apparently being placed in her bowl of porridge.

Medical records showed that Lauren had recorded mental health concerns from the age of 14, visiting her GP three years before her death to report experiencing panic attacks, OCD and intrusive thoughts

The college where Lauren was a pupil is one of the country’s only state-run sixth-form colleges to offer a boarding option and educates 2,250 students a year.

Matthew Nolan, the college’s safeguarding lead, said Lauren had talked about wanting to die, sometimes describing how she would go about it.

‘Lauren would regularly attend my office, crying, shaking and suggesting she was struggling,’ he said in a written statement.

Dr Daniel Shuttleworth, a consulting manager in the Intensive Care Unit who oversaw Lauren’s care, said that while her heart was successfully restarted, she failed to respond to external stimuli, and ultimately failed to regain consciousness.

He gave the cause of death as a hypoxic brain injury caused by suspension.

After Lauren died, one of her friends revealed she had confided in her she had been sexually assaulted as a young child. But in Lauren’s diary police found two separate entries which undermined the claims.

She had written: ‘I have suppressed feelings of guilt as I feel I have lied about being sexually abused as a cry for attention.’ And later: ‘I have never been sexually abused.’

Recording a verdict of suicide, assistant coroner Vanessa McKinlay said Lauren had struggled to engage with therapy, despite regularly attending sessions with her key worker, and had met with psychologists on multiple occasions.

‘No one could have seen what Lauren was going to do on that day,’ she added.

For confidential support, call Samaritans for free on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit https://www.thecalmzone.net/get-support