Parents turn grief into action, advocating for new integrated crisis centre in Kitchener [Video]

Mike and Fiona Roth lost their daughter, Kaitlyn, to suicide – just days before her 21^st birthday – after they say they were on a two-year waitlist for mental health support.

The Kitchener couple said Kaitlyn fell through the cracks due to gaps in the system.

“Gaps as far as long waitlists. Gaps as far as lack of training. Gaps as far as outpatient services are sometimes more of a checkbox system. They’re not necessarily open to everybody,” Fiona Roth said. “While waiting for care, she lost her struggle.”

Kaitlyn’s parents remember her as a happy person, whose smile lit up a room.

Kaitlyn Roth from Kitchener, lost her life to suicide in 2022. (Submitted/Mike and Fiona Roth)

“She just was the life of parties. She loved to laugh,” Mike Roth said.

They said Kaitlyn wanted to get better, but struggled to hold on.

“She would say, ‘Dad, I just …