Deprez said she was aware there were improvements required in youth psychiatry in Luxembourg, and that she could understand the public prosecutor’s office’s concerns in the wake of a knife attack at a secondary school in the capital. The waitlists for inpatient treatment in youth psychiatry were known to be lengthy, and treatment options must be expanded, she added. In a letter published on Thursday, the public prosecutor’s office warned of the poor management of mental health in young people, adding that the necessary infrastructure and capacity were lacking.
In an RTL interview on Friday, the health minister said that she felt there was a lack of communication with the justice system had triggered the criticisms. Currently, both the health and education ministries are working on creating centres to offer a mix of outpatient and inpatient care for young people. They could thereby accommodate patients who are considered to be stable in terms of health, but not yet ready to return home, in case the home environment was part of the issue.
Deprez said she intended to include the judiciary more in the planning for these centres. But she could not say how long it would take until the infrastructure is ready. Instead, she said the Ministry hopes to open one or two of these centres over the next two years, pointing out the difficulty in finding the necessary locations. “The government does not always buy the buildings directly, so there is a lack of resources there.”
The next step is to find professional staff for the centres, Deprez said, adding that there is a need to establish a new training course in youth psychiatry at the University of Luxembourg.
Deprez also pointed out that there are currently ambiguities in the law regarding when a judicial placement should be discussed, and when the judiciary would like to have a structure in place where young people are monitored without a legal decision. However, this ambiguity in the Youth Act should be eliminated.
Deputy State Attorney General Simone Flammang said the issue of the lack of care had already been highlighted to politicians, but that it had not been taken as seriously as they would have liked, leading to Thursday’s press release. Currently, young patients must wait months or even years for a place.
On Thursday evening, Minister of Education Claude Meisch spoke to RTL regarding issues such as AI and social media, violence at school and equality. Among other statements, he said that if schools reflect society then “if the readiness for violence is increasing among adults, then of course this will also be the case among young people.”
Regarding recent violent altercations such as the one on Wednesday, in which a 14-year-old schoolgirl was stabbed by a classmate, Meisch said: “We know there is a need here to improve youth psychiatry services.” The general conclusion is that there is an urgent need for action in terms of supporting children’s mental health.
