The judge in Dublin District Court made an order that a young person in care with suicidal ideation should be detained in a special mental health facility. The HSE had brought the application under Section 25(10) of the Mental Health Act. The child was in care under an interim care order.
The court was told that the young person had previously been screened three months earlier but had not met the criteria for admission. On this occasion however the young person had been brought to one of the Dublin hospitals from her care placement and was further referred to the mental health facility following screening in the emergency department.
The young person was dysregulated and had suicidal ideations. She was willing to attend the facility and had previously spent a number of weeks in another facility.
The judge pointed out that while she understood the urgency and necessity to remove the young person from the emergency department to the specialist facility, there were processes in place and emergency court sittings to facilitate that late at night or at the weekends. The judge appointed a GAL to the proceedings.
The consultant psychiatrist from the mental health facility told the court that she had seen the young person and had reviewed her that morning and the girl had deteriorated and had suicidal ideation involving a bridge. Her situation had deteriorated following problems in her personal relationships with a friend and family member.
The psychiatrist gave evidence that the young person had been involved in significant drug use in the past number of months, including cannabis and ecstasy as well as was having suicidal ideations. She also suffered with low mood.
The doctor’s assessment was that the young person met the threshold, it was a necessary admission, and she asked for the child to be held for a period of two weeks to allow her to be observed by the psychiatric team.
The court was told that access between the mother and the young person was a trigger and was a destabiliser for the young person’s mental health. The family relationship was complicated and they brought out the worst in one another.
It was agreed that the issue of access needed to be reviewed, particularly where it was a trigger and it was suggested that a case conference was needed to look at that.
The judge made the necessary directions following the HSE’s application.