Ms Susan Menton:

I am sure we will be talking about the integrated model of care in education in a few minutes but my background is youth and community work. That is the approach we take within St. Ultan’s campus with young people.

Relationship has been mentioned a couple of times. The value of that is so important. That relationship is what other people do not get. We are asked to sit into boxes, so to speak. There is much frustration around funding criteria of age groups and so forth. They do not box off into little age groups. They do not stop at six, need something at seven or need something at one stage around ten. There needs to be a continuum across the way.

Returning to CAMHS, which was the original question, it is one thing not being able to get a young person into CAMHS; it is another thing now that the system changed and you have to go through GPs. There is no GP available. I know there are other people here from Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard. It is one of the crises we have at the minute. We talked about other societal things that affect youth work. That is one of them that is absolutely critical for young people and families trying to get their young people support in mental health services.