Sole reliance on one professional discipline is outdated and misaligned with evolving standards of best practice and accountability
The Psychological Society of Ireland has said that it does support an outdated claim that the College of Psychiatrists would facilitate “a gold standard” service for children and adolescents in Ireland seeking mental health treatment, it said in a statement.
Calling for a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to the leadership and governance of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Ireland, the PSI said it opposes governance models that privilege one discipline and that positioning psychiatry as the sole lead of all CAMHS teams may not build confidence among health care professionals or the wider public in the overall direction and effectiveness of the service.
The statement said: “The PSI supports a psychosocial understanding of mental health difficulties in young people and believes that an over-reliance on a predominantly biomedical approach does not adequately reflect the complex social, emotional, and developmental factors involved. To improve mental health care in Ireland, the system needs to move away from a biomedical approach to mental health care to a recovery-oriented, person-centred, human rights-based approach that is in line with international best practice.”
It continued: “The clinical lead of a CAMHS team should not be based on holding a qualification in one profession (psychiatry) without due regard to the competencies required for the role. In all mental health services, the clinical lead should be an experienced mental health professional, with the necessary clinical skills and requisite organisational and interpersonal skills for the role.”
The PSI statement is in line with international calls from the both WHO and the UN to move away from a medical model of treating human distress.
The PSI contends there should be parity of esteem and opportunity among colleagues in multidisciplinary teams, and the professional competencies and requirements in relation to eligibility for the role of clinical lead need to be explicit.
The statement said that the PSI “does not believe” that the proposed structures recommended by the College of Psychiatrists would facilitate “a gold standard” service for children and adolescents in Ireland who require specialist support, treatment and interventions for moderate to severe mental health challenges.
“The PSI does not support the assertion that “specialist (consultant) child and adolescent psychiatrists must therefore lead the CAMHS team” (CPI, 2025, p. 5). The Mental Health Commission CAMHS Review and the Maskey Report have highlighted failings in mental health service provision related to poor practice and inadequate supervision in psychiatry….The proposed model presented by psychiatry that relevant mental health professionals “must report and be accountable to the specialist (consultant) child and adolescent psychiatrist leads regarding clinical case management” (CPI, 2025, p. 6) is significantly outdated.”
Read the full statement here