Dr. Joseph Duffy:

Jigsaw would argue that we look at an increased budget to focus on early intervention and prevention. We have a long tradition in Ireland of focusing on acute and chronic care and that is appropriate. We know there will be changes in the regional health areas and the structure of our health system but the larger, physical buildings take up a lot of the money. We also know, in terms of young people, about all the positive work that has been done around providing those supports much earlier on, as Ms Hughes has mentioned in respect of the reduction of stigma. CAMHS supports about 2% of the population. We know from our own research through the My World survey and internationally that about two thirds of young people are doing okay. They need some support, they need support through third level or second level, such as through our One Good School support, providing a mental health promotion angle. Then there are the roughly 35% of young people who need more support and that is where we would get really good value by increasing the budget and putting the money in there and thinking about that group. What we would hope then is that there would be less demand on CAMHS and other services a bit further down the line.

Hand in hand with that is helping people to know not just that the services are there but that it is okay to take them up. I take the point about self-stigma. I was talking to some of the team in one of our services recently and they were saying young people have got the message that they can sit in a group and talk about their mental health if it is in a positive way but actually, if they have low mood, then they get silent and they do not really want to talk about that. It is about how we go that next step, that we do not just think stigma has been completely eradicated. When we get into the more severe and enduring mental health issues, there is a serious stigma around those areas. It is about trying to be much more nuanced and not just putting funding into things that have happened already. Let us look at what the policy says and examine how to emphasise these areas. We should do so on condition that it is integrated and that agencies work together and share knowledge. Young people who are students do not spend all their time on campus. They will need support in different ways. Digital is a real game changer in thinking about that. When we talk to parents they say "no, they are spending too much time in their room, I do not want them to do that." In reality and particularly we will see it for males, if there is an anonymous service like Jigsaw Live Chat, they will take that up much more easily and will come with more severe issues than they might physically come through the door with because it is easier to talk about it in that way. They are the areas in terms of putting in support.