‘Really harrowing for parents’

As waiting lists for mental health services for young people continue to grow, parents with children suffering from anxiety in Cork have finally received some good news.

Irish child welfare charity ISPCC is now offering three new digital mental health and wellbeing programmes to support parents and young people experiencing mental health difficulties.

The programmes’ launch comes as waiting lists for the HSE’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) continue to worsen, especially in Cork and Kerry.

Aoife Griffin, Services Manager at ISPCC South, said the free programmes will help to “join the dots” between services and help to relieve some of the strain on families facing crisis.

She said: “When you have a child in your home that's suffering from anxiety, maybe they've pulled back from their sports, their friends, their school, as a parent you're looking on and you want the best for your child.

“It can be really harrowing for parents. For us it's about joining the dots and there's a lack of that happening between services that could certainly be improved.

“I've seen a massive improvement in the connectivity between services over the past ten years but we do have a long way to go I think,” added Ms Griffin.

According to reports, more than 60% of children who have been on the CAMHS waiting list for more than a year are in counties Cork and Kerry alone.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould raised the issue in the Dáil in February.

The ISPCC’s new programmes are based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy and are created by SilverCloud, a leading digital mental health provider.

Two of the programmes are available to parents/carers of either anxious children or teens while the third is aimed directly at teenagers experiencing low to moderate levels of anxiety. Ms Griffin said the programmes give parents the tools to help their children and to recognise any issues early on.

She said: “It's about empowering parents and giving them the tools. If they can see behaviours just before they get to the chronic stage – trying to get in there early is really, really crucial.”

As to why waiting lists are so long in Cork and Kerry, Ms Griffith said the geography and size of population in the region may be a factor, as well as some people not being aware of what other services are available to them. She said: “There's no family resource centre in Mitchelstown for example. So, you've got a disparity of services in different areas.”

For more info and to enrol in one of the new programmes, visit ispcc.ie.