Mr. Derek Chambers:

I am happy to pick up on a couple of things the Senator mentioned at the outset. Regarding evidence for online and digital mental health supports and telehealth, some things that have already been referenced include mobile phones and the impact they can potentially have on young people. However, with respect to our initial signposting to supports and creating awareness of different mental health issues, the volume of traffic to spunout.ieand yourmentalhealth.iehas been mentioned already. Some 75% of that traffic is coming from mobile phones so it is really important to acknowledge that the first instinct of young people, and all of us, if we are concerned about anxiety or depression is to go online. We have really good and trusted online mental health information in this country, and that is tailored for different age groups. I do not want to speak for another organisation, but through that, the person-to-person supports have really scaled up in the last couple of years. Text 50808 is a really fantastic example of a service that has scaled up. I think it averages 4,000 conversations per month. That is really important for somebody who is nervous about taking the first step but finally goes and does it. We have seen fantastic success. The last thing I will mention in terms of telehealth or digital mental health supports is the scaling up of online cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT. The platform is used by Childline and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ISPCC, as well. However, since April 2021, we have been providing guided online CBT through SilverCloud. Over that period it has really ramped up and is now at around 600 activations per month, which means more than 7,000 people since April 2021 have benefited from that service. The mental health outcomes are demonstrated as well. The information on a person pre and post is measured, and we know it is having a good impact. That service will be ramped up further next year. We recently completed procurement around the provision of online CBT. I am not saying it is a panacea. It is certainly not for everybody, but it definitely has a role to play. Approximately 85% of referrals to online CBT are coming from GPs. Again, it paints a picture that when somebody is presenting to the GP, it is so important for us to provide that GP with different options.

The members also asked questions about the interaction between education and health and that is an area in which we have a lot of room for improvement. I have been speaking to colleagues from the higher education sector working in the delivery of mental health services specifically. I know there are issues around student mobility. For example, if somebody is attending college in one area but going back to their local area at the weekend or during holidays, sharing of care across those services is something we should be looking at more closely. We have a lot of room to work around. However, there are good linkages between the higher education sector and health services that we can build on. We have demonstrated that we can work effectively together. By ensuring those collaborations across sectors we will serve people better and improve those linkages across education and health.