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Gaps in adolescent services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

C. Cantor
C. Cantor*
Affiliation:
Noosa Heads, Queensland, Australia
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Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 29 , Issue 12 , December 2005 , pp. 471
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2005

Singh et al (Psychiatric Bulletin, August 2005, 29, 292–294) highlighted problems at the interface between adolescent and adult mental health services. Some years ago in Brisbane (Australia) our adolescent services worked to a strict lower age limit of under 16 and referrals had to be of adolescents living at home and attending school. As an adult community service provider I encountered a young lady in crisis whom I considered required adolescent services – she was 15 and still at school. I phoned the relevant adolescent clinic. The response? So she was 15 and at school, but she had left home so she did not qualify for their service, despite the fact that the reason she left home that morning was because she had discovered that her mother was having sex with her boyfriend!

Perhaps this would not happen today? No, that can’t be right as we have more ‘non-service’ delivery scandals than ever. Perhaps this wouldn’t happen in the UK? Perhaps I’m just naive?

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