21st June 2024
Cross-community Labour Alternative’s Gerry Cullen calls for urgent investment in mental health services for young people
Young people aged 19 are being kept on the CAMHS service simply because there is so little support available for young adults
CCLA call for funding for Public Health Agency to research impact of online abuse and misuse of social media on mental health, especially of young people
Fermanagh and South Tyrone Cross Community Labour Alternative (CCLA) candidate Gerry Cullen called for urgent intervention by the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to ensure support was available for young adults with poor mental health and that research is conducted on the impact misuse of social media is having on young people’s mental health.
The candidate highlighted that young adults turning 19 with mental health challenges were being kept on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) register – which is meant to accommodate those only to age 18. This is being done to ensure that they retain access to basic provision.
Mr Cullen said, “It’s a very different world to be growing up in today than the one my generation did. Young people have a lot of new challenges to try and navigate. The result has been a surge in young people with poor mental health seeking support and counselling but the reality – as with so many other parts of our health and social care – is that the services they need are either being rationed or are just not available.
“The CAMHS waiting list to see a counsellor is about a year and then they are get only a few sessions but even that is better than the service adults receive. As a result, clinicians are keeping 19 year olds on the CAMHS register as a protective measure. There is a real crisis in our mental health services but with the focus on divisive, communitarian politics and the dominance of big business priorities it is just ignored.”
Mr Cullen revealed that last month he had submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Public Health Agency (PHA) seeking if they have any research on the impact of misuse of social media on the mental health.
“I wrote to the PHA asking if they had any research on the impact of online abuse and the misuse of social media on the mental and physical of people in Northern Ireland, in particular young people. They came back to say that they didn’t. The absence of such research is hard to understand.
“Health Minister Mike Nesbitt needs to both properly resource our Mental Health support services to make sure that they meet our community’s needs, in particular those of our young people. He must also resource the PHA to research the undoubted harm being caused by the misuse of social media. Any response to this crisis needs to be evidence-based.”