Ms Suzanne Connolly:

First, as adults, both as parents and as this committee of elected representatives here and all of the professions, we should do all we can to let children know that we are there for them, that we can support them in their anxiety and enable them to think positively about their future. The reopening of schools was crucial and key. We now need to ensure that children can thrive in schools, go to and stay in school and that they can develop to their potential. That is why I was so pleased that that happened. The closing of the schools had a very significant impact on their well-being, as well as on their other activities.

As Mr. Church has said, we need a variety of services. We need both the generic universal services which say that a degree of anxiety, worry and stress is normal. However, when that stress begins to interfere with one’s everyday life and capacity, that the services are then available. That needs to be across a continuum, from services such as Childline and the services that we provide in the communities and homes. These must also come, as Mr. Church has alluded to, from the more specialist CAMHS services, where children really need particular types of attention because of the level of this anxiety, because they have potential disorders such as obsessive-compulsive, or because there is suicide ideation. Perhaps Ms Keane would like to add to that.