Ms Louise Walsh:

On the question regarding primary care, I believe primary care is the way to go because as children attend primary care centres for dental and physiotherapy services and so on they would not be stepping out of their comfort zone and would see going to such a centre to see a counsellor as normal.

They would not feel isolated or have the label of having mental health problems. They would just be seeing the counsellor with all the other kids from their school with appointments. It would be an easier way for a child to get help. My son had very severe difficulty going to a counsellor. He would not go when we had appointments made and he just told me he was not able to speak to a counsellor. He was not at the stage he could do that. Perhaps if he had been, he would not have been in such a crisis. It is very hard even for adults to go to see a counsellor and it is a tough task. We do not even have to put a name like "counselling" on this. If we put a nice, happy name on it, the child could go to see someone in primary care in a safe environment beside a dentist, for example. This would happen in the community and the person would not go to a hospital or where he or she would be labelled as someone with mental health issues. It is a major fear kids have and they are afraid to say it because people will think they are mad or crazy. It would be something to bridge the gap, a little stepping stone between being a normal Joe Soap and someone who ends up in an acute psychiatric ward. Primary care is definitely the way to go.