Kirsta Simons - 2019

November 14, 2019 a girl aged between 14 and 16 depending on the different accounts of what took place died at West Ridge Academy. She was sent thousand of miles away from her native country Bermuda to Utah. The culture differences are so huge that it is like taking a girl from Europe and send her to the Middle East.

In the end she could not endure living out of the country and ended her life.

A real tragedy for those left behind. May her death stop the cruel practice of exiling youth in need of treatment. No country on the earth should dump children in need of treatment to backward cultures. Then it ends possible treatment and it becomes a prison instead.

May she find peace where she is now.

Sources:

• US care centre ‘saddened’ by girl’s death (The Royal Gazette)
• Tragic Utah facility said it had ‘evolved’ (The Royal Gazette)
• A teen from Bermuda died at a Utah treatment center, sparking anger there and investigations here (Salt Lake Tribune)