Mr. Conor Boksberger:

I will go back to the individualised nature of what is happening for that young person. Jigsaw would always try to find out what the young person is using, how it is being used, and whether he or she is safe. We look at that first and foremost. We also look at the interaction between the substance and the young person's mental health concern to figure out which of them is primary. We recognise that if the substance use is primary for that young person, and there is no amount of therapeutic intervention such as talk therapy that might be helpful at that point, we need to address what is happening for them in that moment. It is also about recognising that sometimes it is not safe to deliver talk therapy to someone who is actively using. If someone has smoked cannabis just before coming into us, ethically, we have to say that we need to keep this contained. We try to gauge whether we will add value or be able to offer something. That is where we are coming from. The interaction between the substance and the young person's life and mental health, and how he or she is using the substance and what it is being used for, will determine how we direct towards it. We are aware of services within our communities that offer support around substance use so if we feel the young person should attend those first and an intervention with Jigsaw is needed after that, we are always open to it. Young people should be able to traverse back and forth between services but we want to be careful to act within our remit while also recognising that young people use substances - they drink alcohol and smoke cannabis, sometimes very recreationally - and there should not be a blanket ban on young people accessing mental health supports for that. Sometimes the nature of the use is masking a lot and that needs to be treated in the appropriate way.