Dr. Niall Muldoon:

The other thing to note is that they said they took 1,000 young people off the waiting list for CAMHS, but that is not the total number of children they dealt with. They also dealt with a lot of people who were not on CAMHS, so a lot of other work was done for children where it was not their first intervention. Recognising that, a bigger number is being dealt with.

Early intervention is all around me here - the school library, Fighting Words, Grow it Yourself, Barnardos. They are all early interventions and they are the ones who create that stronger, more confident child or even just the child who is willing to say to some adult they are afraid, they need a bit of help or they need something extra. Our education system is starting to see that and to move in that holistic way with social and emotional learning. It is recognised now. I hear it constantly at the conferences I attend. They know the child cannot become educated until they are socially and emotionally safe. That is what they need. Teachers need that for children and many schools have done that off their own bat. We need the education system to support that change. That is where the education system is now ahead of the Department of Health. It is saying we need to engage in all parts of our children’s lives to provide for better service and better education in the most rounded way. That is where we need to start moving away from the silos that have been created up to now.