Dr. Amanda Burke:

Get your chequebook out. I have done focus groups with young people, so I will say what it would look like from their point of view. They want access, when they want it, to a young person-friendly space. They want to come in to a space where they feel comfortable, somewhere bright with beanbags where they can talk quietly, present whenever they want and where there is not a long waiting list.

They do not have to have a long waiting list. They can talk to somebody who, although they may not necessarily solve their problems, would listen to them and then get them the appropriate therapeutic relationships when they need it. That is what the young people want. From my point of view, it is about developing services. There is a place for accident and emergency departments and it is important to say that. Somebody who has self harmed or taken an overdose needs to be seen medically. I would love to see a place where young people could present that was separate from an accident and emergency department, something similar to the café models that we were looking at. There would be an element of peer support so that young people could talk to people with lived experience, who could show them what it looks like in six months time when they get the help they need. Then there would be a backup house where young people could be seen by a mental health professional, who would triage the person and tell them what they needed be it a community mental health team, attendance at the day hospital or a period of in patient admission. It would be seamless and people would not be waiting. We would be connecting with all the other primary care agencies, the schools and the GPs. We need to be doing that rather than being in a silo and the young person would be at the centre of it. That is what it would look like to me.