Psychiatric services - A cry for help ignored

TRYING to come to terms with a child’s suicide is one of the most daunting prospects any parent can face.

Having to face the prospect of that terrible sadness in the knowledge that your 16-year-old child had regularly indicated lethal potential through a history of self-harm and had tried, on at least eight occasions, to kill herself must be even more difficult.

Having to wait for a bed in a suitable psychiatric unit because you don’t have private health insurance for a suicidal daughter, who was sexually abused over six years by your former partner, would bring any parent to the edge of endurance.

Yet, that is what is happening in Wexford today. Just what degree of jeopardy would a young woman have to be in before the appropriate services are provided?