Tilly Rosewarne: Dolly Everett’s family respond to shared teen suicide tragedy

United in shared grief, two families who lost their teen daughters to suicide are fighting tooth and nail to save lives in schools across the country.

The family of teen suicide victim Dolly Everett say the suicide of Bathurst teenager Tilly Rosewarne is evidence “the job isn’t done” when it comes to youth suicide prevention.

Dolly’s Dream, the foundation created in honour of 14-year-old Dolly, reached out to Tilly’s mother Emma Mason on Monday to express their condolences in the wake of her death.

There are eerie parallels between the two girls’ deaths, both of whom were bullied at school and lost to suicide. Tilly was just 15 when she suicided in February after years of being tormented by bullies, including having fake nudes circulated on Snapchat and online.

Dolly, who was the smiling face of Akubra as a child, lost her life to suicide in 2018 after being cyberbullied at a Queensland school.

The family of Dolly Everett say Tilly’s death

is proof that more needs to be done to address youth suicide. Photo: Supplied

Her father Tick Everett said Tilly’s death was proof that despite progress being made since his daughter’s death, more needed to be done.

“We think that the public conversation, the awareness, the efforts, the programs, the resources have all increased since we started Dolly’s Dream 4 years ago. But Tilly’s death reminds everyone that the job isn’t done, and we all need to try harder,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

A spokesperson for the foundation said the news was a tragic reflection of the issue of youth suicide.

“We always hope that no more families suffer this tragedy, but it continues to happen. We get plenty of messages about those that Dolly’s Dream and others have helped, and we hope there are many more that quietly overcome their personal challenges. But every time we hear of a Tilly, we get knocked back a few paces,” they said.

Tilly Rosewarne took her life in February after years of bullying.

Photo: Supplied

Mr Everett said he and his wife were planning to reach out to Tilly’s family once they had more time to mourn privately.

In the wake of her death, Ms Mason pledged “to do everything we can to make sure no other little humans go through this.”

Ms Mason said the government had to do more to prevent cyber-bullying and schoolyard bullying.

“Kids need to know that when you do [bully], there has to be a repercussion,” she said.

“I don’t know how many more children we need to bury? How many more families have to implode?”

Ms Mason believes the introduction of a database of students’ phone numbers, emails and social accounts could help schools to confirm the identity of cyber bullies on social media.

“I hope it will help save lives,” she said.

Last week, Mental Health Minister responded to the tragedy when confronted about it in NSW Parliament by Labor’s Walt Secord.

“It is an absolute tragedy for the family, the community — for everyone,” she said. “I have really been very ­determined to make sure that we improve the mental health for our young people in NSW.”

She added that her office was working to reduce the waitlist at Headspace, and ­introduce child and adolescent mental health teams.

Tilly’s mother Emma Mason said she was disappointed she hadn’t received a call from Ms Taylor.