Mar 15, 2018, (Ireland) Cork, Breaking News: Some children waiting 18 months for a mental health assessment https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/some-children-waiting-18-months-for-a-mental-health-assessment-832786.html Young people have died while awaiting Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the Cork region, it has been claimed. The HSE has revealed that the overstretched mental health services saw 995 young people last year. However, there were 747 more on the waiting list in the region as of February 28, with 120 of these waiting more than 18 months for an appointment. … “As someone who worked at the frontline of education services for 10 years with a School Completion Programme in Cork City, I saw first hand the explosion in demand for mental health support services among young people,” he added. … Work is underway to address these waiting lists in the form of funding which has been made available to recruit extra staff and a total of 7.5 whole time equivalents, which are expected to be in place by the end of July, according to the spokesperson. “However, we need to point out that it will take time for there to be an impact on waiting lists,” they added. … “That’s not the way to treat these families, we need to be working on helping these children before they get to that point. “In a time when we are all talking about the need to be aware of mental health risks the HSE must do more to ensure they urgently address the staffing shortage and supply of psychologists to provide the service that is needed.”
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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