Weston High School

WHSS Council to make arrangements for Bugwatch surveys in Erne and Tyrone County Hospital. What resources are the Trust putting in place for mental health services for young people? How many are on the waiting list and what is the waiting time for young people referred for counselling services? What steps are the Trust taking to improve waiting tim... es? Mr Billy Page said he wished to thank Trust staff, Mr Bernard McAneny and Mr Barry McGale, for the work they had done in his area in relation to a number of suicides over the past few weeks. Mr Page said an emergency hotline was put in place for five weeks. He said a young man who committed suicide in the past few days had previously tried to commit suicide and he felt there should have been a service available for him. He said there were a number of young people in his area who have attempted suicide and who feel the service has let them down. Mr Millar said he would agree entirely with Mr Page. He said there is a big issue around the means we have of communicating with the younger generation and this is one area the Trust is now going to look at. He said the WHSC Trust secured non-recurring funding from the WHSS Board to bring in the hotline which will be manned by staff 24 hours a day for the next five weeks. Mr Millar agreed with Mr Page's comments on providing a service to those people who do attempt suicide. He said the role of the media also needs to be looked at. He said there are many copycat suicides and the Trust needs to look at new ways of managing this. He also agreed with Mr Page that there needs to be a partnership approach involving local communities, the Trust and the young people. Mr McGowan said young people must have access to mental health services. He said there is a stigma attached to psychiatric services. He said there are a number of projects that he had seen - one is a Team Text Project in Co Kerry and the second is a GAFF Project in Co Galway. Both of these projects used innovative models to get young people to access services. In the ...Read More