Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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448. To ask the Minister for Health the resources that continue to be made available to children or their families at risk through self-harm or symptoms of suicidality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11511/17]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The HSE Mental Health Division has a multifaceted response to people at risk of self-harm or who have had a self-harm episode. This includes referral by GP to Community Mental Health Teams for the appropriate service; liaison psychiatry services onsite in Model 3 and 4 and acute hospitals; a comprehensive mental health on-call service in Emergency Departments in the acute hospitals for people presenting in crisis during the on-call period; and self-harm clinical specialist nurses in a number of Emergency Departments. In addition, the Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse (SCAN) initiative enables GPs to refer directly to SCAN Nurses for assessment and advice on management of their patients who attend their surgeries with suicidal ideation.

In each of these settings, a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment is carried out together with an assessment of mental state and a risk assessment for suicide. On the basis of this, a care plan is drawn up and the next steps depend on the psychosocial stresses identified together with the presence or absence of a mental illness such as depression. The progression of the development of a clinical programme for the assessment and management of self-harm presentations in Emergency Departments is one of the HSE's National Service Plan priorities for 2017.

Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health teams are the first line of specialist mental health services for children and young people. There are currently 67 Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health Teams and 3 liaison services nationally. The multidisciplinary team, under the clinical direction of a Consultant Child & Adolescent psychiatrist, includes junior medical staff, psychologists, social workers, nurses, speech & language therapist, occupational therapist and child care workers. The assessment and intervention provided by such teams is determined by the severity and complexity of the presenting problem(s). This range of disciplines and skills offer a care and treatment package geared to individual needs.

The HSE’s National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) helps to support a wide array of work in communities, in partnership with the voluntary sector, across the country that focus on promoting positive mental health and reducing suicide and self-harm by providing significant grant funding each year, as well as by assisting in coordinating and giving strategic direction to the work undertaken in this area. NOSP supports a range of services for teenagers and young people including Pieta House, SpunOut.ie, ReachOut.com/Inspire Ireland, and BeLongTo. The 24-hour call services provided by the Samaritans and Childline are available to any young person in distress and are also funded by the NOSP. In addition, NOSP also worked closely with the Department of Education and Skills in the development of Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Well-Being in Primary and Post Primary Schools.