Mental health: 'My son begged to be sectioned before his death'

A mother from west Belfast has urged the executive to create a service that treats mental health issues alongside drug and alcohol addiction.

Currently, the services run separately and you must be drug-free before being assessed for a mental health issue.

Lorraine Brennan is calling for a dual-diagnosis service after her son, Jack, died from a suspected drugs overdose.

"I begged the mental health team to keep him," she said. "He begged to be sectioned. But he was let home."

Jack, who was 23 when he died, began taking prescription drugs at 15.

By 21 he was using heroin and suffered from mental health issues, alongside his drug use.

Ms Brennan wanted her son to receive mental health treatment

"Jack overdosed I couldn't tell you how many times and harmed himself," said Ms Brennan.

"We'd go to the Royal [Victoria Hospital] and sit there maybe 12, 14 hours and be sent home the next day.

"Jack really felt let down. He never wanted to die. It was just a battle all of the time with the drugs. "

Sinn Féin's Órlaithí Flynn said not making a change to the service could cost lives

West Belfast MLA Órlaithí Flynn is calling for a dual-diagnosis service to be implemented in the mental health action plan due to be published in April.

She said the statutory services with mental health and addictions were not working in tandem.

"Services aren't meeting demands and the need," she said.

"We need a service that can treat people that are suffering with mental health problems and that are also battling with addictions.

"If we don't create a dual-diagnosis service we're sadly going to see more lives lost as a result of drug use."

The calls come after the number of drug-related deaths in Northern Ireland soared to 191 in 2019, the highest number recorded.

The figure is more than double that recorded 10 years ago, with half of the deaths involving three or more drugs. A quarter of the deaths involved five or more drugs.

This is despite repeated calls from health officials for drug users not to mix drugs.

The Department of Health said one of the actions in its mental health action plan was to review crisis services.

"The review is currently ongoing and the department is expecting to receive the final report in the middle of April," officials said.

"This will help shape the future of crisis services and will be included in the new 10-year mental health strategy."

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, there are a list of organisations that may be able to help at BBC Action Line.