An Ennis mother has said there is a huge deficit around treatment for eating disorders in Clare, while she is seriously concerned for her 15-year-old daughter who is self-harming and has been suicidal.
The 15-year-old has been in crisis for months already, and her mother says that all attempts to get her the support she needs have failed, and in some cases have actually made things worse for her.
“She’s self-harming, she’s suicidal. She left the house on Friday at 7.30am and we found her over by the river, sitting by a bush. In her mind she’s just a lost cause, nobody wants to help her and she’s a burden,” said the mother this week.
The services required just aren’t there, she feels.
“There has been no help whatsoever, none; actually the help we received jeopardised her and made her worse,” she told The Clare Champion. “It’s really because there aren’t eating disorder specialists on the mental health teams for adolescents. They’re lacking in that department, lacking in the training.”
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Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.