No help for boy, aged six who talked of suicide

A YOUNG boy last night who talked of killing himself at the age of six, put a face to the plight of children who cannot get proper treatment for serious mental health problems.

Seven-year-old Jordan Kelly, from Dunboyne in Co Meath, was profiled on the Prime Time Investigates programme, which was told the boy first spoke about killing himself when he was six years old.

“[It’s] like someone is controlling me, I’m not actually being bold. It’s like a robot, someone else controlling me,” Jordan said.

He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder two years ago but his parents cannot access support services and have to rely on preventative medication.

His father Martin Kelly said the lack of child psychiatric services left him afraid they would lose a battle with time as Jordan became increasingly problematic.

“We fear more for his mental state and also if he’s not interacting with other children while he’s in school, the knock-on effect of that when he goes into his teenage years is that he’s going to be isolated.

“I am very angry but I am also very upset, you know that we have been asking for help since he was two-and-a-half.

“In the next seven years if he continues on the way he is we don’t think he’ll be with us either physically or at all because he is progressively getting worse and worse.”

Jordan is among 20% of Irish children who suffer from a serious psychological disorder but there are hardly any services in place to help them. Only 13 inpatient beds are available for people under 18 years of age.

These are at two centres in Galway and Warrenstown, Dublin 15.

Secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association Seamus Murphy said the resources promised by the Government have not been delivered and children continued to suffer. “You are talking about the area in Irish mental health care where there is the greatest deficit of services.

“Of the community mental health teams that have been put in place most only have two or three members when they are supposed to have nine or 10.”

The Labour spokesperson on children said the situation where teenagers were forced to be treated in adult psychiatric services was not acceptable.

“We have seen cases where children have been treated in adult facilities and where some patients have to wait for over four years, just for an assessment. The resources that the sector needs are simply not being made available.”