Mr. John Church:

I thank the members of the committee for having us here today. The ISPCC is delighted to be in a position to present to the committee on the topic of youth mental health. As the national child protection charity, I would like to present the ISPCC’s insight which arises from listening to, and working directly with, children and young people. The ISPCC’s Childline service operates 24 hours a day and answers more than 1,000 contacts every day from children and young people up to the age of 18. A high proportion of these engagements come at night, often when other services are unavailable. In 2019 to date, 19% of Childline engagements with girls have focused on mental health and anxiety compared to 10% of engagements with boys. Children and young people who contact Childline discuss issues, including depression and sadness, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and bullying. Our childhood support services have received 341 new referrals to date in 2019. Of these referrals, 42% have related to children experiencing mental health difficulties. Typically, these young people present with anxiety, difficulty coping, school refusal, being socially isolated and having very low self-esteem.

The ISPCC’s childhood support service received a referral for a young boy who was experiencing anxiety and was at the point where he felt he could not leave the house, even to go to school. The boy and his family had refused previous supports. The ISPCC support worker worked with the boy and his family, giving them the chance to talk about their concerns as well as what steps they could take. The family appreciated that they could complete sessions in their own house as they had felt overwhelmed at the thought of meeting professionals at their offices. Over the course of the ISPCC’s engagement with the family, they agreed to work with CAMHS also. The boy is now making positive progress in that he will leave the house for short periods of time and is talking to his parents about his worries and feelings of anxiety.

Of the families who have completed work with the ISPCC childhood support service this year to date, 96% have reported improved knowledge and understanding of the issue and 77% have reported a change in behaviour. The ISPCC is aware from evaluating these service outcomes that community-based, strengths-focused therapeutic work can have lasting positive impacts on young people.

Through our work with children and young people, we know mental health is a key concern for that cohort. Children and young people have been hugely impacted by delays in access and lack of resources in mental health services in Ireland, at a time when waiting lists for mental health services in this country are at an all-time high. Families are left with very few service options available to them. In the first quarter of this year, 365 young people were waiting for more than 12 months for their first appointment with CAMHS. As my colleague mentioned, the suicide rate among young people aged 15 to 19 in Ireland is the seventh highest among 33 European countries.

Ireland has a population of 4.75 million people, of which over a quarter is aged under 18 years. Despite this, the voice of the child is often forgotten in the process of developing and evaluating services.

While the implementation of the Pathfinder project ought to help ensure children’s voices are heard, progress has been slow in this regard.

There is an acute need for 24-7 child and adolescent mental health services across Ireland. In its absence, children often feel they have nowhere to turn. In serious cases involving attempted suicide or self-harm, parents are forced to bring children to accident and emergency departments, which is a wholly inappropriate setting for any child in distress. It is essential that no child is admitted to an adult unit in future, even in the short term. Timely and appropriate early intervention support should be available to all children and young people, regardless of where they live in the country, when mental health issues arise. They should not have to wait to experience a crisis before they can access support. It is imperative that waiting lists are reduced and recommended resources and staffing for CAMHS are ensured.