A Christian youth worker says churches are of not doing enough to prevent suicide amongst young people.
A new report by the NSPCC, which runs ChildLine has revealed the number of children in the UK reporting suicidal thoughts has risen sharply.
The charity says the highest number of calls they received were from children aged between 12 and 15 years old.
Youth worker Helen Sare from Sussex believes the issue remains a taboo subject to many Christians, speaking to Premier she said: "The Church needs to do better, it's really unhelpful. I hear people say they just need to be closer to God, they've got a demon or they don't have any faith. There's a lot of judgment and there's a lot of fear around this stuff.
"More than anything the Church just doesn't know what to do with people who struggle with mental health issues like depression and suicidal thoughts."
Childline says it has held nearly 35-thousand counselling sessions with youngsters in the last year, where they talked about taking their own life, an increase of 117 per cent on three years ago.
Helen Sare, youth worker:
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