Helen Sare, from the Christian charity Youthscape, was speaking after a University of Manchester study investigated the suicides of 130 young people between January 2014 and April 2015 and found that 50 per cent of them had self-harmed beforehand.
The investigation also found a quarter of the young people, aged 10-19, had said they were experiencing suicidal thoughts a week before they took their own lives.
The findings:
36% of victims had a physical problem like asthma or acne
29% were facing exams or exam results; four died the day of an exam or the day after
28% had lost a loved one
22% had been bullied
Health conditions, exam stress, bullying, bereavement were contributing factors to their deaths, the report found.
Suicide is reported to be the biggest killer of people under 35 in the UK and the report calls for better access to mental health provision for young people.
Helen Sare said that money for mental health services was generally only available once people had hit crisis point, and can be too late to intervene for people contemplating suicide.
Speaking on Premier's News Hour, she said: "We need better community support for mental health, predominantly money in mental health services in CAM, which is Children and Adult's Mental Health Services. Their money is Tier 3 and Tier 4 [of the NHS], which is extreme care.
She also affirmed the role of Christians in helping people self-harming or considering suicide.
"The Church is for broken people, it's not for people who are whole," she said.
"To have the opportunity to train up counsellors, to listen to people, to pray with people, to grieve with people, I think is really important."
Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speaking to Helen Sare on the News Hour.
