Young people have been dealing on their own long enough with an enemy that pre-dates the present viral fears – but help is at hand, writes Aron Hegarty
Early intervention and bridging a gap between referrals and receiving support holds the key to tackling Ireland’s youth mental health crisis, according to several experts.
The introduction of a national counselling programme, greater provision of resources and a more disciplined approach from parents and teaching staff were also pitched as factors to be considered for dealing with the matter.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic during National Brain Awareness Week (March 16-22), Lisa Molloy, CEO of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP), says mental health problems with young people in Ireland is a “crisis issue” requiring “urgent” action.
“This needs urgent government attention and support,” she says. “It’s absolutely vital that we address mental health issues among young people in this country.
“Comparatively and internationally, mental health issues for young people in Ireland are being experienced at an alarmingly high rate and would be higher than people of the same age bracket in the US and UK.”
Many issues arising through youth mental health are experienced at school which, if not spotted and attended to, can lead to much bigger problems later.
Access
In Irish schools, according to Ms Molloy, there is an “identifiable gap” between young people being referred and getting access to the required services.
“What is happening is when children are being referred on by the schools there is an identifiable gap in them being able to access the services that they actually need.
“While schools are trying their best to provide the support to children who are experiencing emotional distress, there is unfortunately still an absence of additional supports in the form of counselling and psychotherapy.
She adds: “Where children are being referred out of schools, we have a CAMHS service which is oversubscribed and is experiencing very long waiting lists.”
Co. Carlow, for example, has one of the highest rates of teenage suicide and self-harm in the country due to youth mental health problems.
Recent findings from the County Carlow Children and Young People’s Services Committee (CYPSC) on Youth Mental Health show there are indeed ‘gaps’ in the system which need to be bridged.
The ‘Children and Young People’s Plan 2017–2019’ report found that “statutory mental health services for those under the age of 18 have been falling short in providing adequate services to those needing support and treatment”.
The resources are not in place…there are no dedicated programmes for young people and we need to provide young people with better opportunities”
A case study on the Folláine counselling service, run by Carlow Regional Youth Services, says the practice is “overwhelmed” with “increased waiting times” which have left “vulnerable young people without support” for long periods.
Parents and other professionals, according to the report, identified the “need for more clarity on referral pathways” to mental health services.
The objective of the report suggested the “advocacy for improved mental health services”, provide “information on services and how to access them” and “promote emotional wellbeing and resilience”.
Dylan Thomas, a social inclusion worker at Carlow County Development Partnership, says youth mental health in Ireland is both a local and national problem.
“The resources are not in place,” he says. “There are no dedicated programmes for young people and we need to provide young people with better opportunities.
“Individual schools have their own supports, but many schools don’t have a dedicated councillor or chaplaincy.”
He adds: “There has been very little research done at level local and we in Carlow are one of the few counties in Ireland to do it.”
Jigsaw, the national centre for youth mental health in Ireland, aims to provide tailored community-based help for young people’s mental health needs.
The charity, recently visited by British Royals Prince William and Kate Middleton during a three-day state trip, and UCD School of Psychology conducted the ‘My World Survey 2 (2019)’ – Ireland’s most comprehensive study of young people’s mental health and wellbeing to date.
Survey
The survey consulted more than 19,000 young people and found 58% of adolescents aged 18 to 25 in Ireland had depression or anxiety outside of the normal range.
Mike Mansfield, Director of Communications at Jigsaw, says the findings show there is a “demand” for the development of youth mental health services in this country.
“There is a growth in the demand for more services,” he says.
“We (at Jigsaw) feel we can make a significant difference if we can detect the onset of young people experiencing mental health problems as early as possible.”
Mr Mansfield feels that a “collaborative approach” is required in order to deal with youth mental health problems.
He explains how Jigsaw works with young people by setting realistic goals, which equips their staff to better support and give them the care they need.
“Our services are free and they are run by professional clinical staff,” says Mr Mansfield.
“We provide one-to-one services in our 12 catchment areas around the country and we are accessible in locations on most high streets.
“Young people can either come to us directly or a parent, teacher or GP can contact or refer to us.”
However, Mr Mansfield warns there needs to be a rebalancing of government funding from a system of care for acute services to early intervention services.
“The demand is too high for us,” he says, calling for more government funding into prevention initiatives.
“We have ambitions to do more, but it costs €15 million a year (€41,000 a day) to run our operations so we need donations and more funding to continue our work.”
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Over the past year, the IACP have been lobbying for government officials to back and establish a national school counselling and psychotherapy support service.
The IACP is seeking approval to run a pilot study to see how a “coordinated approach” would assist schools in tackling mental health problems.
“It’s quite ad hoc,” says Ms Molloy of the current structure of mental health supports at schools. “At the moment there is no national school counselling programme in place. What we are proposing is to develop secondary level school counselling supports for school children.
“We are seeking parity across Ireland for all children and young people so they can have access to counselling and psychotherapists as part of a school’s mental health provision.
“The mental health support services that are currently available in Irish schools would greatly benefit from having an on-call counsellor and psychotherapist.”
Fr Martin Smith, a chaplain at Carlow Institute of Technology, believes the greater volume of choices and challenges facing adolescents today causes confusion and puts more strain on young people.
“There is so much going on in young people’s lives nowadays,” says Fr Smith. “Young people are under huge stress, but there are lots of resources out there. The aim is to try to connect the two.
“Getting students to open up and engage with each other, without judgement, is the obstacle to youth mental health.”
A lack of resilience in children due to being overpampered by modern parenting, according to Fr Smith, means many young people experience difficulty in coping mentally and emotionally with problems they encounter.
“Stress is part of life,” he says, “but the issue (of mental health) lies in one’s ability to be resilient; being able to deal with and come out of stressful situations which is most telling.
“It comes from early on in life at home. Children are being protected all the time and are not allowed to be disappointed or let down.
“If parents spoil or protect their children all the time, then they are not going to have that resilience when it’s really needed at a later stage in their lives.”
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Joe Armstrong, a former school teacher, says a lack of discipline and poor school management of stressors like bullying leads to more mental health problems in children.
“There’s always bullying and there always has been bullying,” he says.
“It’s inevitable that it’s going to arise, but where you have a good management it will be nipped in the bud right away. Whereas in a poorly-run school, mental health issues arising from factors such as bullying will not be managed.
“I suspect in schools where there is a lot of mental health problems, it often goes back to the management. I am utterly convinced that you can almost tell when you go into a school whether it’s being well run or not.”
Mr Armstrong, who is now a chaplain, believes a school’s “attitude” towards dealing with youth mental health issues will determine how well or not cases are managed, if at all.
“In cases where the issue is let run and the attitude of the school is ‘there’s nothing we can do about it’ or ‘look at the catchment area’ etc that’s not an excuse.”
He adds: “I would ask ‘How does management reply? Are they supported? How is it handled?’ If that situation is just left be, then that points back to the people running the school.”
We really believe that early intervention is key and that these services could work with the chaplains and guidance councillors and staff in the schools to support and help young people become happier”
Dr Paul Downes, Associate Professor of Education (Psychology) at Dublin City University, feels too much responsibility is being put on teaching staff in schools to handle complex mental health matters.
“The big concern is that our national policy does not make provisions for emotional counselling or care in our schools,” he says.
“We need a distinctive, specialised emotional counselling service with proper qualified staff, who have a professional counselling background. We also need deep-rooted supports for trauma with user-friendly services both in and linked to the schools.
He adds: “Teachers cannot provide this service and aren’t qualified for dealing with emotional or complex needs.”
The IACP, established in 1981, is a registered charity representing over 4,200 members and aims to be a “link” between those who are looking for support services and those who provide it.
In terms of managing mental health problems in our young people, Ms Molloy says “early intervention” is crucial.
“Early intervention has been proven to be the best approach to dealing with these issues,” she says.
“A lot of the research very much points to the evidence of the benefits of early intervention and that it has an impact, not only across the young person’s mental health, but across their confidence, family relationships, school attendance etc.”
She continues: “We really believe that early intervention is key and that these services could work with the chaplains and guidance councillors and staff in the schools to support and help young people become happier and better adjusted adults in the future.
“Achieving these vital supports, when they are needed, on a timely basis can really open the door for young people and can help them to flourish later in life.”