More NI kids seeking help for anxiety

Assembly. The number of stories of families devastated by suicide keeps growing despite the efforts of groups like Aware NI, but the important thing to remember is that help is available — it’s okay to not be okay.”

The Belfast Trust area also had the highest rate of hospital admissions for self-harm, with 181 per 100,000 people between 2013/14 and 17/18.

Other parts of the study showed that life expectancy in Northern Ireland remained unchanged

Hospital admissions from the previous year, at 78.5 years for men and 82.3 years for women.

The Belfast council area had the lowest male and female life expectancies, at 75.8 years for men and 81 years for women, while the nearby Lisburn and Castlereagh council area had the highest, at 79.8 years for men and 83.4 years for women.

SDLP health spokesman Mark H Durkan MLA said the disparity between life expectancies highlighted that much work was still needed to address health inequalities.

“This is not a failure of the health department or our trusts, but of government, or now lack of government, to address economic inequalities across the region,” he added.

“Increased investment in more deprived areas is vital.”

In 2017/18 there were 24 admissions to hospital per 100 people, while 18% of people admitted to smoking and 77% to drinking alcohol. THERE has been a surge of young people in Northern Ireland seeking help in dealing with anxiety, a helpline has said.

The revelation comes in Childline’s annual review, The Courage To Talk, highlighting the work of the NSPCC-supported service.

At Childline’s Northern Ireland bases, Belfast and Foyle, 2,267 sessions were recorded in 2017/18, compared to 1,395 the year before and 1,221 in 2015/16.

Children contacting Childline from Northern Ireland received 378 counselling sessions for anxiety in 2017/18, up from 258 in 2016/17 and 209 the year before.

Neil Anderson, head of NSPCC Northern Ireland, said anxiety can be a “crippling illness”.

“It is deeply worrying the number of counselling sessions we are delivering for this issue is rising so quickly,” he said.

“Increasingly Childline is filling the gap left by our public mental health services, providing young people with a place they can go for round the clock help and advice.”