Dan Boyle
Question:93 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Defence the psychological support services available to the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20546/02]
Written Answers. - Psychological Service.
The Defence Forces have adopted a formalised healthy living, mental health and well-being awareness programme. It incorporates training modules in stress management skills, mental health well-being, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide awareness and prevention. Emotional support and guidance is available to members of the Defence Forces from the personnel support service, the medical corps and the chaplaincy service. The military personnel support service employs seven professionally qualified civilian social workers and is staffed locally by barrack personnel support service officers. The personnel support service has trained and experienced stress defusion and critical incident stress debriefing facilitators and they conduct stress debriefings, in association with medical officers, as part of overseas units repatriation processing. The support service personnel have been trained in bereavement and basic counselling skills. A psychiatrist medical officer serves with the medical corps.
A psychologist is employed in the personnel section of the Defence Forces headquarters. His work involves assessment and selection procedures for officers, cadets, apprentices and trainee technicians based on job analysis, psychometric tests and a personality questionnaire. He conducts lectures for courses on military psychology, stress management and critical incident stress management. In addition to these existing resources, a comprehensive mental health team is to be established within the Defence Forces consisting of two psychiatrists, a clinical psychologist, a mental health social worker, an occupational therapist and two community psychiatric nurses. With the exception of the community psychiatric nurses, who would be civilians, it is intended that the other persons appointed would be commissioned as direct entry officers. Conditions governing the appointments of the commissioned military personnel to the mental health team have been drawn up and are under consideration at present.