Don’t ignore CAMHS problems again, mental health advocate urges

A mental health advocate who attended child mental health services 10 years ago has urged that the problems with the system are not ignored again.

Emma O’Sullivan said that problems highlighted by the recent Mental Health Commission report into child and adolescent mental health services were familiar, and seemed “stuck in the same cycle”.

Ms O’Sullivan, from Co Cork, was diagnosed with an eating disorder in her mid-teens, which resulted in her being admitted to hospital for six months.

She said she was “left” to deteriorate to a stage where she became very unwell, and has appealed for young people suffering from mental health issues to speak out.

“I was just being seen as not an individual and more of a number, more of a case file,” she told the PA news agency.

Before accessing acute services, she also faced delays with referrals and wait-times to be seen, though she adds she does not think the delays were as severe as they are now.

“I definitely did have that kind of problem of the initial waiting time.

“I think what’s a massive problem now is people are waiting years and years to be seen, but once they do get seen, it’s just that shock of there’s actually no proper services and care, you’ve waited this long and it’s just for nothing.

“I feel like it’s just absolutely detrimental to the future of kids in Ireland right now.”

She said that she became an inpatient and was placed in a locked unit, which she said both saved her life and was traumatising.

“It did save my life because I was so ill. But it’s not a way of sustainable recovery. It’s definitely not an environment for young people – it’s a very traumatising environment.

“You have your own voice, but you’re not really allowed to in a certain way, so it’s definitely very difficult.”

Political pressure has been mounting for action to be taken since a report into Ireland’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) found it to be disjointed, difficult to access and with a lack of monitoring in some cases.

Acceptance rates of referrals varied regionally between 38% and 81%, according to the Mental Health Commission’s report.

It also found that some teams were not monitoring children on antipsychotic medication, that most services had no IT system to manage appointments, and there was no ring-fenced funding for CAMHS.

This follows a 2022 report into the care received by young people in South Kerry CAMHS, which found 240 minors received “unreliable diagnoses, inappropriate prescriptions and poor monitoring of treatment” which resulted in adverse effects in 46 cases – including weight gain, sedation and elevated blood pressure.

A similar review is being carried out into North Kerry CAMHS.

Opposition TDs have called the CAMHS report “one of the most damning reports to have been presented to government in living memory”, and have demanded a better IT system and dedicated annual funding.

Ms O’Sullivan said one of the most striking things about the report is that the various problems with CAMHS have been known about for so long.

“This is just coming out now, and I think it was so known for a long time beforehand.

“But also the scariness of, OK it’s coming out now, but what is being done about it? Who is going to change it or alter it, or quality control that? I think that’s the main thing. The fear of ‘OK where do we go from from here?'”

She added: “I’m advocating for young people to be able to have their own voice because it’s something that they’ve lost, I think, through the system.

“You don’t have a voice, you don’t have anyone to advocate for you, so you’re just kind of falling through a gap.

“I just want to reach people and for them to realise the empowerment of being able to have your own opinion and have your own voice can actually change your recovery.”

She urged people to try to understand what is going on with CAMHS and “not to ignore it this time”.

“(That) really would be my hope.”