Ms Martina Kelly:

I would endorse everything they have said. I understand and have lived through a lot of that. I believe psychology and psychiatry should not exclude each other. They should work together. We need weekend and night-time help. That is when most traumas happen, but if it is after 5 o'clock in the evening or a Saturday, Sunday or, God forbid, a bank holiday weekend, which happened to us, there is no help available for three days. If a parent is not willing to fight for their child, the child will be lost. All our children are depending on the parents being strong and being prepared to fight for their children because no one else will fight for them.

The child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, offered our son a counsellor, which was great. Unfortunately, our son did not take to that particular counsellor. It was not her fault and it was not our son's fault. Some people click, some people do not. He is normally very willing to speak to most people. He likes to talk, but when I asked if there was anyone else he could speak to and said that he would be willing to speak to anyone else, he was not offered anyone. That is at least seven years ago, and he has never been offered anyone else to speak to when he would not speak to that one person. Our families are in crisis. We need serious help, and we need it now.