Three months after their daughter died by suicide, Deanna Daughtry is opening up about some of her experiences as a mom of a child with mental health and addiction issues. Primarily, Deanna Daughtry is talking about the questions she struggled with.
Deanna Daughtry Gets Honest About Being a Parent of a Child With ‘Mental Health and Addiction Issues’
As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Deanna Daughtry, and her husband rock star, Chris Daughtry, are currently dealing with the grief of losing a child. On November 12, Deanna’s daughter, Hannah Price, took her own life after a long battle with addiction.
Hannah was just 25 years old when she was discovered by police in her Tennessee home following a wellness check. Hannah was also a mother of two at the time of her passing.
RELATED: Chris Daughtry Reveals Step-Daughter Hannah Price’s Official Cause of Death
In the first of her three Instagram posts, Deanna admitted that she wished she would have handled things differently. “I often wish I could go back in time and do things differently,” the mom wrote.
“Especially things with my daughter. I wish I had spent more time just being present with her as she was and less time trying to save her. Maybe then she would have felt worthy enough to save herself.”
In a second Instagram post, Deanna opened up about the questions she has grappled with. And how there is little information out there about how to deal with situations as she and her daughter have been in.
“When you love someone with mental health and addiction issues you are constantly taught not to enable them and to set strong boundaries with them but not really taught how to be present with them. How do you avoid making them feel alone and abandon? How do you still show them love and that you are there for them without enabling?”
Deanna continued, writing, “I thought I was doing that but after losing her like this I can’t help but think I missed something.”
The mom hopes that by sharing these thoughts, she will help someone else feel not so alone. “I know this is a normal part of grief but I want to share my real thoughts today with the hopes this could help someone dealing with the same stuff not feel so alone. It’s all so confusing and hard.”
In her last Instagram post, Deanna opened up about the intense desire to save her daughter but all of the avenues she was given never worked. “The chaos that can surround some of those who suffer with these illnesses can be completely overwhelming, all-consuming, and terrifying so I know it is 100% important to have boundaries but consistently saying things like, ‘how can I best support you right now?’ And ‘I love you but if you continue to speak to me that way I’m ending the conversation’ and ‘I’m not willing to do that for you but I will be happy to help you look for a job’ wasn’t working either,” Daughtry wrote.
“I wanted to just run and save her and, for a while, that is what I did and she didn’t get better. When I learned to set better boundaries and to let her experience ALL the consequences of her actions she still didn’t get better,” Deanna concluded. “Now she’s gone and there is nothing more I can do. The fact is my beautiful girl needed to choose to get better it was always in her hands.”
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