The 2023 Policy Forum for Ireland keynote seminar will take place online on June 20 next featuring a high profile panel of speakers assessing the priorities for mental health provision in Ireland – and next steps for the Government’s national mental health policy strategy Sharing the Vision.

The speakers will include Mary Butler TD, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People; Dr Susan Finnerty, Inspector of Mental Health Services, Mental Health Commission; Dr Camille Coyle, Programme Manager, Mental Health, Health Research Board together with Dr Shana Cohen, Tasc; Dr Joseph Duffy, Jigsaw; Professor Mac MacLachlan, Maynooth University; Stephanie Manahan, Pieta; John McCamley, SIPTU; Michael McLoughlin, Youth Work Ireland; Stephen McMahon, Irish Patients Association; Professor Fiona McNicholas, Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin and University College Dublin; Tiernan O’Neill, Corpus Christi Primary School, Moyross.

Sinn Féin Spokesperson for Mental Health Mr Mark Ward TD will chair the proceedings.

The seminar follows the Mental Health Commission’s interim report on its Independent Review of the Provision of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which highlighted what the Commission described as a serious risk to the safety and wellbeing of children accessing CAMHS. The full report is expected soon.

The conference will be a timely opportunity to consider the way forward for CAMHS services, assessing options for improving service provision, key priorities for the CAMHS workforce, and addressing waiting times for access to services following last year’s missed waiting list targets.

With the subsequent publication of the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, which includes over €7m in funding for mental health support, further sessions will discuss priorities for adult services with a focus on funding, improving quality, and options for developing more community-based, holistic services.

Delegates will examine how Ireland can grow its research portfolio in mental health following the publication of the country’s first National Population Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research and Evaluation Strategy, which aims to align research with Sharing the Vision, and develop service provision and access to early intervention.

Overall, sessions in the agenda look at:

• mental health policy in Ireland: next steps for government strategy – planning for implementation beyond 2024
• priorities for the provision of CAMHS:

• • taking forward findings of the Mental Health Commission’s interim report and addressing concerns
  • integrating with future policy developments to improve standards of care and develop service provision
  • addressing waiting lists and ensuring effective guidelines for follow-up appointments

• the CAMHS workforce: recruitment and retention priorities – support for physical and mental wellbeing of staff – putting effective workplace support and guidance in place to improve services
• adult mental health services:

• • funding priorities
  • developing the Quality Framework, in conjunction with research and evaluation to enhance service provision
  • improving the use of and access to community mental health resources to deliver care outside hospitals and improve early intervention.