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Committee on Future of Mental Health Care to focus on talk therapy

26 Jun 2018, 11:28

Early intervention and talk therapy will be on the agenda when the Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care meets tomorrow, 27th June, in Leinster House.

 

The following witnesses will appear before the Committee:

• Dr. Harry Barry, GP and author;
• Kate O'Flaherty, National Youth Taskforce and Director of Health and Wellbeing Programme, Department of Health;
• Officials from Dept. of Education and Skills, (NEPS);
• Representatives from the Irish Council for Psychotherapy.

Committee Chairperson, Joan Freeman, said today, “The Committee’s Second Interim Report, published earlier this year, called for increased access to counselling and talk therapies with less reliance on medication. Talk therapy has fewer side effects and lower relapse rates than medication treatment. The problem of over-reliance on medication for the treatment of mental health issues can, in some cases, be seen as a symptom of the lack of alternative options available. Tomorrow we will discuss the significance of talk therapy and early intervention, as well as the many obstacles that need to be overcome before we can be seen as having a mental health service that offers a suite of alternatives to service users.”

The meeting will start at 1.30pm in Committee Room 4, Leinster House.

Read the Committee’s Second Interim Report here 

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here

Media enquiries

Nuala Walsh,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
+353 1 618 3437
+353 86 4100 898
nuala.walsh@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: @OireachtasNews

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