Investment needed to solve mental health problems
The Clonmel Project was launched yesterday after examining the mental health of more than 3,500 children in the town as part of the largest and most detailed study of its type undertaken in Ireland.
It confirmed earlier reports that one-fifth of children display significant levels of psychological disorders, but that most of these are treatable if caught early.
The principal clinical psychologist with the project and the report’s co-author, Maeve Martin, said its work had shown behavioural problems were by far the most prevalent disorder.
Ms Martin said this had finally given authorities substantial information on where funding is required and what interventions are most likely to work.
She said: “Before we started this we knew there was a problem, we knew there was a need but we didn’t know what this need was.
“Now we know what it is and that the most common problems people are presenting with are the simple behavioural ones. These are ones that could be addressed in a simple way with simple interventions.”
She explained that on investigation many of the problems that parents had identified in their children could be eliminated by educating families on simple techniques like encouraging proper sleeping habits.
Her comments came at a conference organised to coincide with the launch of the Clonmel Project’s final report, where health and education professionals heard how a coordinated approach from all agencies would help fill “huge gaps” in the system.
Chairing the session, Jillian van Turnhout of the Children’s Rights Alliance stressed the importance of putting young people at the centre of policy decisions.
She said: “If we catch these problems later in life we have to unravel everything to try and solve the problem but this has shown us that if we act early it is a lot easier to solve.
“These problems are having a huge effect on education and have ramifications right throughout the life of the child.”
Health Service Executive childcare coordinator Peter Kieran said the report should help put the issue of children’s mental health at the top of the agenda.
Some 19% of children were diagnosed as having “significant psychological disorders”. Of these, in the 12-18-year-old category:
* 15.79% had suicidal ideas.
* 15.79% smoked.
* 31% abused alcohol
* 8.77 % attempted suicide in the past year (15% had tried it at some stage in their life).
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