Charity's call to improve Isle of Man child mental health services

A Little Piece of Hope has called for the government to put more money into the services

The Manx government should "step up" and channel more money into children's mental health services on the Isle of Man, a charity has said.

A Little Piece of Hope, which supports bereaved families and sick children, has called for more to be done to tackle waiting lists for support.

Trustee Helen Sheppard said it had seen a "surge" in contact from parents about their child's mental health.

Manx Care said the backlog was down to a "lack of a multi-agency strategy".

In October last year it was revealed about 1,300 four to 17-year-olds were receiving or waiting for treatment from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Ms Sheppard said inaction from the government had resulted in the charity having to find more money to support children's mental health.

'Early diagnosis'

She said the group had spent about £7,000 in the past year on early diagnosis and about £4,000 on therapeutic support.

The charity had funded private mental health assessments to allow for an early diagnosis of conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Ms Sheppard said the almost £700 per assessment was "a huge amount of money per child to spend and most parents don't have those funds available".

A Manx Care spokeswoman said it was supporting "the delivery of the Thrive Framework", which was a needs-led multi-agency framework to "support the mental health and wellbeing needs of children, young adults up to the age of 25 and the adults who look after them".

It aimed to engage "groups of colleagues from different agencies to work together in partnership to ensure people get the right help at the right time", she said.