HIGH incidences of depression, self-harming and suicide are being targeted among the second-generation Irish community in Britain.
A project set up to address increasing mental health concerns about young Irish people aims to intervene at the early stages to avoid the need for more entrenched psychological therapy in later life.
A new position created at the Brent Centre for Young People — which offers talking therapy services for troubled 11 to 23-year-olds — will support the work of the charity’s Irish Project.
Currently half of the centre’s clients are Irish or of Irish descent.
Over the coming months it’s new project will target the ‘culturally specific’ issues that may be fuelling the high incidence of young Irish people accessing entry grade therapy at the centre, their tendency to miss planned sessions and the lengthier period of time in which they require therapy.
Rita Conneely, who was appointed to the new position of Health Liaison and Support Officer for the Irish Project, believes the role is vital for London’s most vulnerable Irish youngsters.
“The Irish Project at BCYP works on the basis that there is a fairly significant number of our clients that come from an Irish background,” she said. “That’s first, second or third-generation, as well as those of mixed Irish descent with another race.
“In total about 50 per cent of the clients we see are Irish or of Irish descent. Primarily its more second-generation people at this point, but with the continuous arrival of new migrants to London there will no doubt be a need, over the next five years, for us to be looking at providing services for some of those too.”
Ms Conneely, who was born and raised in Kilburn to parents from Co. Galway, admits the high number of Irish being served by the BCYP charity currently is partly due to the ‘historical reflection of the borough’ — which boasts one of the highest Irish populations in London — she claims the issues being faced by those young people must be considered in a cultural context.
“My role with the Irish Project is as initiative which had never been done before at BCYP,” she said.
“It came about after BCYP undertook research into its referrals and levels between intervening therapy sessions and psychotherapy, which highlighted the movement of our Irish clients from entry grade therapy to the need for more intensive adult type work.
“It also showed the number of ‘do not attends’ that Irish people have in our service, as well as the longer duration that they are in therapy, compared to other young people.”
Ms Conneely, who was previously employed as a support worker in hostels across London, believes offering a culturally specific support service to Irish BCYP users could greatly increase the success of their therapy sessions.
“In some ways Irish young people deal with the same issues as any young person,” she explains.
“So the Irish Project deals with the full gambit, from people struggling with social isolation at school and bullying right through to depression, self-harming type behaviours and suicide ideation.”
She added: “However our Irish clients tend to be on the higher end of the scale. They are less likely to be presenting with bullying at school and more likely to be presenting with more entrenched negative behaviours towards themselves and their peers.
“They are also more likely to be referred from our entry level talking therapy service to full psychotherapy services, as there is often a more entrenched need there.
“Every case is unique of course, but I am trying to work with our clinicians to educate them on the importance of the Irish context to these young people’s cases and its possible implications in what is happening to them.”
The youth support worker, who was elected as a Labour councillor for Brent’s Kilburn ward after standing for the first time in the May local elections, is clear on the issues these young people may face in their home lives.
“There can be all kinds of layered psychological reasons relating to what’s happening in the Irish culture which means some of these kids are in more trouble than others,” Ms Conneely suggests.
“If you look at the situation the Irish community in Britain is in today, the reality is that, despite many successes for many people, the community is still, on balance, fairly economically deprived compared to some of the other ethnic minority groups in this country.
“The Irish still tend to live in boroughs which are more deprived, like Brent, they are more likely to be in social housing, they are more likely to have substance abuse issues and they are more likely to have a family history working in something like construction, which in itself is a very volatile industry around times of recession.”
She adds: “With that in mind, in BCYP’s Irish Project they decided, instead of looking inwards, to look outwards at the situation and think about the possible reasons some of these young people are accessing the service but also have such a high level of ‘do not attends’.
“Maybe they are not sitting at home saying I don’t want to go, maybe there is something going on stopping them from coming. So we are saying let’s look at any practical reasons that are affecting your engagement with us and let’s talk about them.
“These things are never a quick fix, of course,” Conneely admits, “as there may be a lot of issues being faced at home.
“I can think of certain experiences from my own time in the Irish community and know that some young Irish people might live in situations where they share homes and they are not managing those relationships very well or they might also be in a very chaotic household — boisterous maybe, and for some young people that’s too much.
“The homogeneity of the Irish culture can also play a role in issues facing young Irish people, as can the prevalence of substance abuse among the families.
“You also have the Irish focus on education, needing to achieve and working hard — that’s great, of course, but young people feel that pressure and can feel they are not living up to those expectations, which can also trigger any number of issues.”
