Mother says mental health services failed her son ( 12)
FINLAY Gallagher is 12- yearsold and on the autism spectrum. He has endured much hardship in his short life, including having to leave his family to enter residential care in an effort to get the intervention that he needed.
His mother Fiona believes this could have been avoided if the HSE’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service ( CAMHS) in Sligo had treated Finlay in the first place instead of ‘ turning him away.’
She feels CAMHS has not listened to her as a parent and says she was left with no other option but to seek alternative treatment for her autistic son as Sligo’s mental health services did not intervene early enough or offer adequate treatment.
“I got Finlay diagnosed privately in Dublin when he was five. I was put on a waiting list with CAMHS. We were waiting months to see an Occupational Therapist and nothing was forthcoming. When he was 8 Finlay broke down mentally and there was no help. He was a danger to himself and others and had to leave mainstream school. I took matters into my own hands and he went away to a residential home in Navan.”
Fiona says that after that full- time intervention Finlay is now back home with her and attending St. Brendan’s school.
But Fiona is now worried about the next stage in his development and the ‘ lack of services from CAMHS to help Finlay deal with his teenage years.’ “I rely on the internet and private services for help.”