Early intervention is vital in treating people who experience psychosis, but these services have been starved of funding in recent years.

At the current rate, it could take over six decades to set up the required number of early intervention in psychosis (EIP) teams in Ireland, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on mental health, Mark Ward, told Noteworthy.

Our investigation is exposing how some young people with psychosis are trying to access care but instead are falling through the cracks of our health system's bureaucracy.

This is a Noteworthy and The Journal collaboration, supported by the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism in the Republic of Ireland in partnership with Headline, a Shine programme.

Read our full investigation findings here

WE INVESTIGATED

Over the course of eight months, news correspondent Órla Ryan took a deep dive into the impact of insufficient services around Ireland.

Her work involved speaking to people who experience psychosis and their families, healthcare professionals, researchers and other experts as well as questioning relevant authorities, including the Department of Health and the HSE.

To date, Noteworthy and The Journal produced five articles as part of this series, from spotlighting cases where children were not able to access appropriate care to exposing insufficient funding and major gaps in services.

We would still like to hear from teenagers and young adults - or their parents / guardians - who have been impacted by the lack of services available to them. Please email [email protected] to share your story.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Our investigations are sourced from and crowdfunded by the public. If you want to help fund our ongoing work, consider making a once-off or monthly contribution to our investigative fund.

You can contact us at [email protected] and find out how we work here.