Thousands more young people seeking mental health support due to Covid, cost-of-living crisis

The double-whammy of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis means Ireland’s mental health support services are more stretched than ever before, the youth mental health service Jigsaw has warned in its latest annual report.

Last year it received its highest ever number of referrals. There was a steep increase in referrals in 2021 compared to the previous year, with demand on its community-based services up 24 per cent year-on-year and an increase of 54 per cent in appointments offered. Additionally, it saw a 104 per cent increase in demand for its online Live Chat service as well as a 144 per cent increase in demand for its email support last year.

Jigsaw chair Dr Jacinta Stewart said that in 2021 the service offered over 35,000 in person appointments to young people across its range of therapeutic services, up from 23,075 in-person appointments in 2020.

She described last year as “an incredibly difficult 12 months” for the organisation which “saw increasingly high levels of demand across all in-person and online services.” It was “a year when Jigsaw staff were severely challenged”.

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Chief executive Dr Joseph Duffy said 2021 “highlighted once again that the mental health system in Ireland is under significant pressure” and that at Jigsaw “we are increasingly concerned about the rising levels of demand across the mental health system of care.”

Jigsaw’s research has shown young people were already facing considerable increases in anxiety, low self-esteem, feelings of isolation and low mood before the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.

In February the HSE’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) reported a 40 per cent increase in the number of children waiting to be seen by their services, while recent analysis from the ERSI showed the stark impact of Covid on young people, with 40 per cent of young men and 55 per cent of young women classified as depressed.

This is up from two years previously when 22 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women were depressed. The suicide charity Pieta House has reported a 20 per cent increase in demand in the first three months of this year.

Jigsaw in a statement said that now the cost-of-living crisis is deepening financial hardship for many people with an array of rising expenses including rent, fuel and food. “The impacts of financial hardship and poverty on mental health are well documented, and are backed up by Jigsaw’s own research showing financial difficulties as one of the top stressors for young people.”

It has called on the Government to act on its warning about increased stress among young people and ensure there is enough funding and plans in place for mental health services and supports that young people need.