Home and Away spoilers follow from Australian-pace episodes, which some UK readers may prefer to avoid.
The following article contains discussion of themes including self-harm that some readers may find upsetting.
Home and Away policeman Colby Thorne has been told that his sister Bella Nixon needs full-time psychiatric care after her latest self-harm incident.
The show is exploring an emotional storyline for Bella (Courtney Miller) following the recent arrival of her new love interest Nikau Parata (Kawakawa Fox-Reo).
Wednesday's episode on Channel 7 in Australia (April 29) saw Bella decide to take her relationship with Nikau to the next level, believing that she was ready.
Bella invited Nikau over while she had the apartment to herself and led him into her bedroom. However, when they started kissing, she was suddenly flooded with bad memories of the time that online predator Tommy attacked her.
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Reaching breaking point, Bella kicked a confused Nikau out of the apartment and started self-harming while alone. Colby (Tim Franklin) was horrified when he arrived home, broke down her bedroom door and saw what she was doing.
After taking Bella to hospital, Colby suggested getting her back into a regular pattern of counselling sessions.
Tori Morgan (Penny McNamee) pointed out this wouldn't be enough, as it's the second time that Bella has deliberately hurt herself.
Tori told Colby: "Your sister's in crisis. We don't have any other choice here – she needs full-time, intensive psychiatric care."
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It was later left to Colby to break the news to Bella in her hospital room, explaining that it was out of the question for her to return home straight away.
Having reached crisis point, will Bella now get the help that she needs?
Home and Away fans in the UK will see these scenes on Channel 5 later this year.
Home and Away currently airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1.15pm on Channel 5 (UK) and Mondays to Thursdays at 7pm on Channel 7 (Australia).
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in Australia are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 135 247 (thesamaritans.org.au) or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 (beyondblue.org.au).
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