A Dundee dad has been left heartbroken after his teenage son took his own life.

Paul Kinsella said he was upset and angry following the death of his son, Dylan, 17, on Friday night.

© Steve Brown / DCT Media

 

 

The former Morgan Academy pupil had battled with issues around drugs and mental health but his problems were not always taken seriously by the NHS, said his father.

Mr Kinsella, 43, said: “At the moment, it’s obviously very upsetting, obviously heart-breaking, but I’m furious – I’m angry as well.

“And it’s still not hit me fully yet, I know that.

“He was great, everyone loved him, he was just a happy laddie.

 

 

“That’s shown by the fact that all these people on Facebook and all these old pals, ones I remember and ones I don’t remember as well, are all saying things they did with Dylan.

“One thing they all say is that he was always there to listen to them.”

Dylan, a former Dundee College student, had received treatment at the Carseview mental health unit at Ninewells, said his dad, who stays in the Hilltown area of the city.

 

 

However, Mr Kinsella, of  Dallfield Court, said he faced long delays in trying to get the help he needed.

He said more needed to be done to safeguard the mental wellbeing of young people.

He added: “He (Dylan) had been at Carseview and they were seeing him for a few weeks, but there was one time when he went up and he was hardly able to stand from the amount of drugs he had taken and they said ‘we don’t believe you’ and sent him home.

“When he phoned them after that it was always ‘we don’t believe you’ or ‘we’ll get you a counsellor’ but it was eight months wait.

“If somebody is suicidal, waiting eight months just doesn’t make sense to me.”

© Steve Brown / DCT Media

 

 

The grieving father is now asking NHS mental health services take reports of poor mental health in young people more seriously and for additional funding to be made available.

He said: “They need to stop just putting it down to teenagers and just saying it’s them wanting attention.

“If they’re wanting attention they’re wanting attention for a reason – listen to them.

“It just feels like going through the motions because there’s not enough counsellors to treat the amount of people they need to help.

“They need to get more money into it.”

Mr Kinsella said he was grateful to everyone who had come forward to pay tribute to Dylan, adding: “Everybody’s been offering their help, even the parents of Dylan’s friends who I’d never met, because it’s the one thing you’re never meant to do, isn’t it? You’re not meant to bury your own son.”

© Supplied by Steve Brown.

 

 

In particular he said he wanted to thank Peter Donnet Junior, a friend of Dylan, who has set up a Gofundme page to pay for his funeral.

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said its thoughts were with Mr Kinsella’s family but patient confidentiality meant it was unable to comment on matters relating to individual patients.

However, the spokesperson added: “The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Tayside is currently meeting the 18 week National Waiting Times target for Mental Health and is developing measures to continually improve waiting times. The service remains committed to making further improvements to ensure all children and young people receive the best quality care without delays.

“The Tayside Mental Health Strategy ‘Living Life well’ demonstrates NHS Tayside’s commitment to improving mental health and wellbeing services for children and young people in Tayside, ensuring care is tailored to the needs of each individual patient.

“One of the projects being taken forward is developing a pathway for young people to support them in the transition between mental health services for children and young people and adult services.

“People living in Dundee have access to a wide range of mental health support, including psychological therapies for adults and young people. Due to high demand for the service and recruitment challenges, the current waiting time for the Adult Psychological Therapy Service is approximately 40 weeks. The service is working with the Scottish Government to improve waiting times.”