Two years on from the publication of the Report of the Taskforce on Youth Mental Health, a number of organisations and individuals who work with children and young people have called for the report’s recommendations to be implemented in full to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Ireland and help to address Ireland’s mental health crisis.
Mental Health Reform, ISPCC, BeLonG To Youth Services and SpunOut.ie, as well as Professor Mary Cannon (RCSI) and Dr. Tony Bates, are calling for action on the recommendations of the Taskforce, which were accepted by Government in December 2017. The specific recommendations on which action is being sought relate to advocacy, law reform, awareness, mental health supports, accessibility and alignment of services, consent issues and research.
The organisations and individuals have highlighted how children and young people have been hugely impacted by delays in access and lack of resources in mental health services in Ireland, at a time when waiting lists for mental health services in the country are extremely high. The recommendations contained within the Taskforce report present an opportunity to support children and young people through education, primary care, mental health services and improved legislation.
Director of Mental Health Reform, Dr Shari McDaid, said, “We are concerned that the Government has not adequately progressed the recommendations of the Taskforce report and in particular the failure of the Government to deliver extra services to address the mental health crisis in Budget 2020. Two thirds of the increase of €39M announced in Budget 2020 for mental health will go towards pay increases and addressing existing levels of service, and not towards new developments that are desperately needed. The remaining €13M will go towards staffing the new National Forensic Mental Health Service in Portrane, which while welcome, will do nothing to help the more than 2,400 children and young people waiting for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services across the country.”
“We urge the Government to revisit the inadequate allocation for mental health announced in Budget 2020 in the revised estimates due to be debated today.” Dr. McDaid concluded.
ISPCC CEO John Church said: “While the ISPCC welcomes the progress which has been made over the past year with regard to a number of the recommendations of the Taskforce on Youth Mental Health, the success of several of the recommendations are dependent on the implementation of the Youth Mental Health Pathfinder. This Pathfinder project is crucial to opening up a more collective approach to youth mental health, facilitating the working together of several key departments; Department of Health, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Department of Education and the Department of An Taoiseach. The delay in the establishment of this initiative is a cause for concern and we are calling on Minister Donohue to take the necessary action within his Department to address any roadblocks.”
“The Pathfinder project could be a hugely positive initiative with the potential to make a real difference in responding to issues of youth mental health. It is imperative that Pathfinder be established as a matter of priority in order to facilitate progress with further significant recommendations of the Taskforce, including that a National Lead for Youth Mental Health and a lead for Youth Mental Health for each Community Health Organisation (CHO) be appointed, that a national youth advocacy service be established and that focussed research in the area of youth mental health be conducted.”, John Church.
