'Crisis doesn’t stop at 5pm on a Friday': Young people talk about mental health challenges
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We hear a lot about youth mental health from adults. But what do teenagers and young adults really experience?
In a series of conversations, four young people shared how they got through a mental health crisis and how others should be helped.
Hunter Cox is 18, finished their Leaving Certificate and is ready for third-level education. They are in a very different place to where theywere at 16.
“So I got to a point where I just wanted to leave school,” they said. “I said to my year head, here look I need to leave this place, I’m not coming back.”
They described a “rough patch” and the maze of organisations they navigated to get help, supported by their mother.
At first, Hunter was referred to Jigsaw, the national youth mental health charity. But instead of an appointment for their nearest centre in Dublin, they were put on a waiting list, a common problem then as pandemic pressures rose.
They think they are probably still on that list, but in the meantime tried other options. “I went to see the school counsellor, at that stage it was the only thing I had access to,” they said, explaining expensive private therapy was not an option.
Online listings this week show private sessions for teens can cost from €70 upwards per appointment.
The family GP also referred them to an adult mental health service. “At the time I was only 17 so they couldn’t see me, they couldn’t do anything like that,” Hunter said.
"They said you have to send another referral in, and that could take months or years. It was actually crazy."
Hunter also got involved with the Foróige youth organisation and praised a youth worker they met there. “It’s not that she turned my life around but she helped me manage some of my anxiety symptoms,” they explained.
Now a volunteer with Spunout, a youth information and support platform, they meet people still facing these obstacles.
“And people would say they give up because it’s like there is nowhere, they’re not accepting you or the centres were taking too long or just refusing to actually see you or actually do anything for you,” they warned.
They plan to study psychology, and said: “I want to help people get those services because I feel there is definitely not enough people working in those services to actually help people that need it the most.”
Jack, now 18, said his biggest challenges also came around 16. He asked for his surname not be used. He described a crisis one weekend when he was already under Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs).
“Camhs will tell you to go to A&E but when you’re 16 you can’t go to the children’s hospital and the adult hospital won’t admit you because you’d be put with adults, so you’re left literally with nowhere to go in crisis,” he explained.
He added:
He added: “In fairness, I had a good psychiatrist in Camhs who (often) stayed late to see me.”
He described day-to-day challenges too, saying: “Staff rotation is shocking. In six months I had six different clinicians and you have to build a rapport with them, it’s so bad.”
Having to re-tell his story was “really frustrating and tiring” with gaps of weeks between appointments even after this crisis. “For my parents that was really their breaking point, they were really at their wits end,” he said.
This year he transferred to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) and was stunned to see the same gaps.
He said:
“So that was really shocking, I thought Camhs were bad but then …”
Now a volunteer with Spunout and Jigsaw, he recently spoke at a seminar hosted by Taoiseach Simon Harris and called for urgent reforms, warning: “If ye keep pushing it off, more young people are going to commit suicide.”
Psychology is his plan now too, and he said: “I want to be that person to someone, like the psychiatrist I did have who was really good. He was a bit of a light that I had and I want to be that to someone else.”
Dan Kelly, 21 and from Tipperary, feels the pandemic has left its impact on people his age. “You were pulled out of your social circles for such a long time. People are still struggling with that,” he said.
He pointed out anyone struggling with anxiety before the lockdowns would find it harder to re-connect with friends if there is nowhere to go.
“If you’re living in a rural area, you’re out in the country and you have very little access to social groups. So then investing in communities as well is important,” he said. “If politicians are investing in our communities, they’re indirectly investing in young people’s mental health as well.”
The lack of broadband can be an issue in rural areas, he said, saying this is something politicians could fix.
“I’ve had issues at home in Tipp when the broadband isn’t there and you miss the session,” he said, saying online mental health support can be “a gamechanger” for people unable to travel.
He volunteers now with Jigsaw, and says helping young people with their mental health should not be separate from other issues.
Another young woman, aged 20 from Laois, saw how devastating waiting times can be. She asked her name not be used so she could describe this without blaming anyone. She first went to her GP at 17.
"I was in a very bad place. I was actively self-harming, I was going through a lot of struggles in my life,” she said.
She was not referred to Camhs to her parents' shock and said: “I remember coming out of that bawling crying because I didn’t think I was bad enough. (A referral) goes on severity and I think their level of severity now is so high before you can get referred.”
She warned: “It’s not taken seriously because of how long the waiting lists are and how little support you have to be on — you have to be literally at breaking level — to get support.”
Once in Camhs, she had “a good psychiatrist and a good experience”. She was diagnosed with ADHD, now saying this was causing much of her challenges.
She urged the media to highlight successes, saying: “All we see on social media and news is the hardship that’s in the mental health services, and I think it’s good to spread awareness.
"Nobody is hearing about the people who’ve made it through it and recovered.”
At the same time, she sees through volunteering with Spunout obstacles remain. “I don’t really blame the GPs or blame anybody, I just blame the system, the system is broken,” she said.
In May, Minister of state for mental health Mary Butler announced an additional €10m for mental health services, focused on Camhs and online safety.
Listening to these young people, it is clear money is only part of the solution, the rest lies in listening much more carefully than we have been.
Contact a support service through the HSE's helpline 1800 111 888 Also Spunout offer a a free, 24/7 text message support service at 50808