Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 9 October 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Youth Mental Health: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There needs to be far more consistency in that regard. As Dr. Dodd must be aware, the south east has severe difficulty with CAMHS and staff resigning due to not being able to cope with being unable to help the people waiting, and I would be shocked if what Dr. Dodd outlined happens there. Even getting on the waiting list can be very difficult and a cohort of people will slip through the cracks. If someone has a mental health difficulty, he or she may need someone else as a voice to get onto the waiting list. It is not a matter of filling in all the forms and providing all the information. It is more likely that a person in such a position would decide to leave it, not to bother doing it, and wonder whether anyone will even remember that he or she sought a referral. In any event, often the reply will indicate that the person is considered more suited to psychological therapy, which is fine, but the service offered is a drop-in clinic. While that differs throughout the country, a drop-in clinic, especially a group one, will not be suitable. It relates to why people are struggling in the first instance. It is rare that someone enters a drop-in clinic and starts talking about his or her difficulties. Such a person is more likely to say, "I knew it. No one is there to help me."

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