Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1016. To ask the Minister for Health the likely additional demand for mental health services resulting from Covid-19 and the resultant lockdown; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21174/20]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Provision of mental health services during Covid-19, a planning Group (HSE, Department of Health, NGO sector) has been established to plan for additional current and/or anticipated needs as the crisis extends in duration. There are existing HSE guidelines, published in 2014, on ‘Psychosocial and Mental Health Needs following Major Emergencies’.These guidelines recognise that prior to, during and following national emergencies there would be a need to support certain members of the population with their emotional, cognitive, social and physical needs.

The HSE is continuing to provide all community services, in so far as possible, while following Covid-19 guidelines to ensure the protection of patients and staff. At present, there is a range of existing services which offer online text and telephone supports to people seeking mental health information and advice. These include Samaritans, Pieta House, MyMind, Turn2Me; Aware, Crisis Text Ireland, Shine, BeLongTo, LGBT Ireland, Jigsaw, Bodywhys and Childline. The YourMentalHealth.ie website provides a ‘one-stop-shop’ portal for people seeking information, supports and services, including information on accessing urgent help and a mental health text messaging support service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days each week to connect people with trained volunteers. NGOs currently funded by the HSE are being supported and encouraged to develop updated responses to the Covid-19 outbreak. Details of these services are listed on the HSE website, , and information on available services is also provided through the free mental health telephone information line, 1800 111888.

In order to respond to the anticipated additional needs of the population during this crisis, additional online services are being delivered to support the population, including online counselling, expanded crisis textline support and online life skills training, building on existing pilot schemes and developments in digital mental health in recent years.