One in five parents seek mental health support for children during pandemic

More than half of parents are concerned with the long-term impact of Covid-19 on their child's health. Stock image

Parents are worried about the creeping effect of the pandemic on their children's mental health, with more than half concerned about the long-term impact.

Some one-in-five sought some type of mental health support for their child, with anxiety, coping strategies, and isolation and loneliness identified as the top three areas of concern.

A survey of almost 2,000 parents, carried out by Walk in My Shoes, a campaign by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services in conjunction with the National Parents Council Primary, found families were concerned about the impact of the pandemic and how their children will adjust to further changes as society re-opens. 

Paul Gilligan, chief executive of St Patrick’s, said now is the time to plan for any increase in the number of young people seeking help.

According to the survey:

• 55% of parents are concerned about the long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their children’s mental health;
• Almost 20% of children received some form of mental health support over the course of the pandemic; including private counselling and school counselling;
• 25% of parents are concerned about their child’s readjustment as society opens up again.

The survey also found parents were aware of social media overuse by their children. It highlighted a lack of physical connection and aggression or lashing out as some of the ways children acted out.

Mr Gilligan said some of the children among the 20% who sought assistance since the start of the pandemic would have done so anyway, but added: "There is no doubt that this pandemic has not helped. No child will benefit from this."

Pandemic 'a psychological trauma'

He said this included a group of children who otherwise may not have required any mental health supports, but he added the pandemic has been "a psychological trauma of mammoth proportions" and planning for increased demand for services needs to happen now.

"I think we have to see this in context, the last thing we want to do is talk ourselves into a mental health emergency," he said, adding that any talk of a mental health "tsunami" was unhelpful.

We don't know what is going to happen. What we know is kids are experiencing levels of distress but we need to balance that with the fact that children have amazing resilience."

He said the move to greater availability of online resources had been positive but this needed to be expanded.

The majority of respondents had younger children of primary school age and Aine Lynch, chief executive of the National Parents Council, said: “While the results of this survey have illustrated an understandable level of concern about children’s mental health among parents, it has also shown that parents are actively seeking and engaging in ways to support their child’s mental health at this time and to address their concerns, whether that be online via mental health websites or through a GP, teacher or friends and family."

Self-harm

Meanwhile, new data from the National Self-Harm Registry has shown the rate of self-harm presentations to emergency departments (EDs) fell by 3% last year compared to the figure for 2019.

It is the first time the registry, operated by the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF), has been able to compare annual figures for the number of presentations across 15 EDs. 

Dr Mary Joyce of the NSRF said there could be a number of factors for the number of presentations last year, including a reluctance to attend a hospital during a pandemic.

Dr Paul Corcoran of the NSRF said: "There were some fluctuations around the time of the second wave and lockdown but not especially large so it highlights that the big impact came with the first wave."

 walkinmyshoes.ie  samaritans.org / call 116 123