Report on Camhs failings ‘validates experiences’ of young people trying to access service, says advocate

A report cataloguing multiple and endemic failings across the HSE’s child and adolescent mental health service (Camhs) “validates [the] lived experiences” of young people trying to access it, youth mental health advocate, Tammy Donaghy (24) has said.

Having grown up in a poor area of Dublin, her father having died by suicide when she was 11, she was soon self-harming and by 15 believed the only future for her was “suicide”.

Despite this, and being referred to a Camhs waiting list when she was 16, she never got into the service.

“When I was 18 and I was put on to a list for adult mental health services. I was really lucky that I had a supportive school and youth service that I was able to access psychotherapy.”

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On Wednesday, chief mental health inspector Dr Susan Finnerty said in her report on Camhs she could not assure parents seeking its care for their children that the service was “safe, effective, and evidence based.”

She said lack of clinical governance, ineffective leadership and inadequate resources meant Camhs was “creaking at the seams, with increasing risk to children for whom the service is provided”.

[ Opinion: Children’s mental health in Ireland has never received the priority it deserves ]

Speaking at the report’s publication, Ms Donaghy said young people she spoke to “do not have very many positive things to say about accessing mental health services. It can be retraumatsising and it can really make them feel not listened to, not heard and not valued”.

Describing the report as “vital”, she called on the Government to “listen and implement” its 49 recommendations, to offer hope to “young people like me who have been through intergenerational trauma”.

She called for particular focus on most marginalised children with mental health difficulties, including those in poorest families, Traveller, Roma and migrant children.

“When young people are not having needs met not just by mental health services but also by social work services, by schooling system, by policing system it can be really, really difficult for their families to advocate for them,” said Ms Donaghy.

The report highlights children in these communities, saying in addition to facing an inadequate Camhs they were at greater risk of exclusion “due to language, culture, stigma, fears, and location”.

Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, echoed Ms Donaghy’s call for urgent implementation of report’s recommendations. “We support the call for the immediate introduction of legislation to provide for the independent regulation of Camhs,” said Ms Ward, adding that it should have a ring-fenced budget.

Mental Health Reform, a coalition of more than 80 organisations advocating for improved mental health services, was “deeply concerned about the harmful impact of persistent staff shortages and recruitment issues on mental health professionals”.

[ Camhs: At risk-children will remain vulnerable to being ‘disappeared’ in Ireland unless attitudes change ]

The Psychiatric Nurses Association said the report was “extremely worrying” but not surprising. “The review confirms the need for an urgent workforce planning strategy for Camhs and a national targeted campaign to recruit and retain nurses in the service,” said general secretary Peter Hughes.

HSE chief operations officer Damien McCallion said the executive had a “programme of work to address issues” in the report and was “determined now to make substantial changes and improvements”.

Among plans were a child and youth mental health service improvement programme; a new national office for child and youth mental health “to provide leadership, oversight and enhanced governance to services”; and the appointment of a national lead and a national clinical lead for this office.

The executive’s detailed statement outlines several other initiatives including an audit of prescribing practices, and, an audit of adherence to the Camhs operational guidelines.