Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. This week I met the Therapists for Change group, which represents psychotherapists. Its main concern is the HSE's over-reliance on charities to provide mental health services, where the prevailing culture is that pre-accredited and post-accredited psychotherapists are expected to work for nothing. Pre-accredited counsellors and therapists are caught up in this unpaid system but they must do this unpaid time in order to get a job. Group members have a couple of asks. One is that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, meet them, and they have sent a letter off to her today. The second question relates to when CORU will open up its registers to counsellors and psychotherapists to allow the HSE to recognise psychotherapy qualifications and employ psychotherapists directly.

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