I listened in tears to a woman last week who told her local radio station the harrowing tale of how she was trying to save her daughter’s life.
The suicidal teenager was being treated in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and had now been deemed ready for discharge home.
Everything that could be done for her from a medical point of view after she self-harmed had been done but unfortunately there wasn’t a bed available for her in a child psychiatric unit.
The poor mum was in a state of trauma. She believed if her daughter came home she’d end up burying her.
She refused point blank twice to take the 14-year-old out of the hospital.
I wondered in total despair about the state of the health services in this country.
This youngster had tried to take her own life several times in the past two years.
The only solace they could offer her was one hour a week with a counsellor and she could then use the rest of her week to apply “self-coping mechanisms”.
The problem, as her heartbroken mother said, is the child can’t cope in any way, is a ticking time bomb, and just wants to die.
There are only two places she can go in our area for help – St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and Linn Dara Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Dublin inpatient unit. There was no room in either.
The story on LMFM radio caused both public and political outrage in the north-east.
But the truth is the same thing is happening to children with mental health issues all over the country. There is little or no help or places to treat them. The system is dysfunctional.
Many families with similar experiences have been in contact with the poor distraught mum on Facebook. The whole experience of dealing with CAMS, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, is a nightmare.
The HSE as the service provider is an absolute failure.
Talk to any TD in Ireland and they will tell you that mental health service especially for young people nationwide is at breaking point.
The Junior Minister with responsibility for mental health, Mary Butler, who was elected by you, the people, remember, can’t even get proper answers from her own department about what is going on.
She spoke about it in frustration at a meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party last week where she urged colleagues to put in parliamentary questions on mental health issues.
The Department of Health itself just like the HSE is another bloated monster. It has massive budgets and no accountability.
Our Drogheda Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster who has tried to help the family involved accused the HSE of being totally “insensitive” when dealing with the case.
She wrote to both the head of the HSE mental health services in Louth and to €400,000-a-year HSE overall boss Paul Reid to complain and to try and find a solution.
As of yesterday the child is still in the Lourdes Hospital and the HSE is reviewing the case and trying to formulate a plan.
The only good news is the teenager, God bless her, is still alive.
A total of 6% of the HSE budget is spent on mental health in this country compared to the 12% figure recommended by the World Health Organisation.
The story of this little girl is truly a scandal and a disgrace.
Imagine if she was your daughter or grandchild.
