Foyle YouthBank ask Bill of Rights to safeguard young people’s mental health needs.

Kathleen Quigley of Foyle YouthBank explained:

“Young people’s health has always been a priority for us and recent cases of suicide in our own area affected so many young people that we wanted to see if there was some way we could help.  When we were asked to make a submission to the Human Rights Forum we agreed this was the key issue concerning us all.”

Preparing the submission was a two-year process and included two residential weekends exploring the current mental health provision with the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health; and what protection the current law gives.

Katherine Shaw YouthBank member commented:
“I was shocked to find at that time just how few beds there were dedicated for young people in the whole of Northern Ireland. Otherwise they are put in adult wards. You just assume that in a developed country help will be there if you need it.”

On the legal position Kathleen commented:
“This was an eye-opener as we realised how little protection young people have and how there are no boundaries set on how to treat young people’s mental health needs.”

The group conducted primary research to find out what young people knew about their human rights and their attitude to mental health. The response to the questionnaire demonstrated the strength of feeling among young people on all the key issues.

“A total of 230 questionnaires were issued and 183 were returned which is a very good response, said Katherine, “and 51% said they believed mental health issues are ‘very important’ to young people. On young people’s rights 68% felt that young people were ‘not treated fairly’.”

This affected a great many young people as Kathleen commented:
“We found 41% of respondents knew someone who had looked for help with mental health issues and 38% who looked for help felt they did not get the support they needed.”

The group were affected by two respondents who stated on the questionnaire that the young person they knew had died whilst waiting for treatment.

Kathleen said “This is an urgent matter and we have made our submission to the Forum with 14 recommendations of how young people’s rights can be better protected. One of these includes raising the age definition of a young person to 25 to ensure the treatment is tailored to a young person’s specific needs.

“We have raised the issues with the Commission but we need action now and at Foyle YouthBank we have made mental health a new criteria for our grant making.

“We need to change people’s attitudes to this whole area and help remove the stigma and negativity around mental health.”

Summing of the experience gained by the group Katherine said:
“This has been a positive experience for us and even if nothing appears in the Bill of Rights we have raised the issues. This is of great importance to young people and will not be swept under the carpet. We are talking about vulnerable young people who need help and who can so easily slip through the net unheard. They are isolated and experience has shown that communities in a post conflict situation can become even more isolated. So we need to act and act now.”

Foyle YouthBank has raised the bar in asking for standards to be set within a Bill of Rights to address the specific mental health needs of young people.

Their work has received an Impetus Award from the Institute for Global Ethics UK Trust which recognizes and celebrates the work of young people in bringing to life human rights and the shared ethical values that underpin them.

You can read their submission at www.billofrightsforum.org and click on submissions.

Katherine Shaw is a graduate of University of Ulster at Magee College in international politics, and is taking a Masters Degree in European Politics Culture and Languages at Keele University.
Kathleen Quigley is taking a year out to help Nitra YouthBank in Slovakia before studying English Literature and Sociology at the University of Bath.