A teenager found dead on a cliff top in Dorset after an 11-day search was reluctant to give up cannabis despite its potential impact on her mental health, an inquest has heard.

Gaia Pope-Sutherland, 19, disappeared from her home in Swanage on November 7 2017.

Her naked body was not found by police search teams until November 18 in undergrowth between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point, close to the Swanage coastal path.

She had died from hypothermia.

An inquest at Dorset Coroner’s Court has heard Miss Pope-Sutherland had from October 22 been experiencing “ongoing manic episodes”.

She suffered from severe epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of allegedly being raped by a man who had spiked her drink.

Although the man was never prosecuted for offences against Miss Pope-Sutherland, she was worried about his imminent release from prison after being convicted for offences against others.

She had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in February 2017.

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On Wednesday, the inquest heard that clinicians concluded she did not need support in the community seven days after she was discharged from a psychiatric hospital.

But psychiatrists had found that her cannabis use was compounding her feelings of confusion after her epileptic seizures.

Miss Pope-Sutherland had between five and 10 small seizures a day and also suffered more serious “tonic-clonic” seizures, which put her in hospital.

Louise Welsh, a senior mental health nurse with the local community mental health team, who conducted a meeting with Miss Pope-Sutherland at her home, agreed with psychiatrists that she did not need ongoing care.

But she said she had discussed cannabis use with Miss Pope-Sutherland.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Ms Welsh said Miss Pope-Sutherland did not think cannabis impacted her mental health, and that it helped her sleep.

“We discussed the risk cannabis can cause to someone’s mental state, including the increased risk of psychotic episodes,” the witness said.

“She was very clear with me that she didn’t think cannabis impacted her mental state.”

Ms Welsh said she would have told Miss Pope-Sutherland about services to help her quit, but added that these services preferred people to self-refer “because it shows their motivation for change”.

She added that Miss Pope-Sutherland’s GP could also have directed her to services to quit cannabis.

“Sometimes you have to wait for the person to be ready, we have to wait for that person to recognise that (cannabis) might not be helpful for their health and wellbeing and make a conscious decision to make that change,” she said.

“I was very confident that she was very clear that she did not feel it impacted her mental state.”

The witness said that despite Miss Pope-Sutherland being in mental health crisis only a few weeks before, it was not surprising that she was not found to need further support.

“If I had visited Gaia at home and I felt that her mental state had changed or her risk had changed or that there was further support that was needed, she would have been offered that,” Ms Welsh said.

She added that Miss Pope-Sutherland was not showing signs of distress or low mood, had good eye contact, and was not displaying other red flags such as poor personal care.

“I didn’t have any concerns about her mental state at the time, she didn’t report any concerns to me either,” she said.

She noted that during the meeting Miss Pope-Sutherland suffered a small epileptic seizure in which she suddenly became very vacant.

“I asked her what she would like me to do and she said I didn’t need to do anything,” Ms Welsh said.

Miss Pope-Sutherland said that if it happened again, Ms Welsh should just call her friend to help her.

Clinicians who assessed Miss Pope-Sutherland when she was readmitted to hospital suffering from manic episodes in October 2017 are due to give evidence on Thursday.

The inquest continues.