Mental health services need regulation, conference told

COUNSELLING AND psychotherapy services in Ireland urgently need to be regulated in the manner of other professions, a conference on suicide has heard.

An absence of proper regulation had caused situations where some mental health patients suffered severe damage, according to Fine Gael TD Dan Neville, president of the Irish Association of Suicidology.

Speaking at the annual conference of the association, Mr Neville was critical of the ease with which some qualifications in counselling could be obtained. He cited the example of a diploma qualification on eating disorders that could be obtained over a number of weekends.

Mr Neville, a co-founder of the association, said he intended to table amendments to legislation currently before the Dáil for the regulation of health professionals to cover psychotherapy and counselling. Those involved in both sectors were now agreed on the need for regulation, he pointed out.

Mr Neville also called for greater efforts to remove the stigma surrounding mental health issues through education. Until mental health was destigmatised, the political system would never properly respond to the glaring needs that existed, he predicted.

“The system responds to expressed needs, but there are also unexpressed needs that politicians are not asked about because of the stigma attached. It’s been done before with tuberculosis and we no longer talk about cancer as ‘the big C’, so we should be aiming to do the same in mental health,” he told the conference in Tullow, Co Carlow.

He criticised the continuing absence of a director at the National Office for Suicide Prevention, where two directors have left over the past year. Minister of State for mental health Kathleen Lynch assured him that the HSE had been given a deadline to fill the post, he said.

Association chairman Justin Brophy warned that the mental health system was in serious deterioration and had suffered worse than other areas of health. Up to 1,500 posts had gone through early retirement and non-replacement and there were large gaps in staff in specialties.

Mr Brophy said patients were not getting the time they needed, treatment was being delayed and access to acute beds was becoming more difficult. Patients were often forced to repeat their medical history at each appointment because of a lack of IT systems.

Mr Neville said an employee of the association remained suspended while a Garda inquiry continued into allegations of financial irregularities.