Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2026
857. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health her plans to address the lack of a national programme of comprehensive, evidence-based psychoeducation for people with experience of psychosis and their families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28249/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra858. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health her plans to publish the review of alternative models to remunerate sessional peer facilitation of recovery-focused programmes such as EOLAS which was due to be published by the end of 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28250/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 857 and 858 together.
The HSE has confirmed to my Department that has been working with the Eolas steering group to seek to make the Eolas programme available as a recovery and therapeutic offering to service users and family members who may find it supportive in their recovery process.
There was extensive discussions with existing recovery coordinators as part of this engagement, and it was agreed that Eolas would be rolled out on a phased basis through its Recovery Education Services and made available as one of the suite of recovery education offerings available to Service users, family members, staff and others. This approach was agreed by the Eolas Steering group.
The work of the HSE Mental Health Engagement and Recovery (MHER) is based on the principle of autonomy of the service user’s choice and preferences and it works to support local services in meeting the priority recovery needs of their service users in their area. The HSE does not have any power or wish to prescribe what individuals or areas should do in relation to recovery, rather it seeks to work in co-production with them to meet the priority needs identified.
The areas formerly known as Community Healthcare Organisations 5, 6 and 8 were identified as the initial implementation areas. Communication was sent to the MH Heads of Service, a training programme was provided for facilitators and Eolas manuals were produced. As has been indicated in correspondence by the Chair of the Eolas Steering Group, the uptake of the programme was limited.
In light of further expansion of specialist services and treatment programmes since the original EOLAS programme was developed, the HSE have engaged with clinical leads in this field. Some of the principles of Eolas are already incorporated into the model of delivery for Rehab & Recovery Teams and also in the Early Intervention in Psychosis National Clinical Programme with input from HSE MHER staff.
The HSE also engaged with its Recovery Education Coordinators to identify what were the challenges in rolling out the Eolas programme and they identified a number of issues:
“The programme is too long with eight quite intense modules."
"The programme is too prescriptive and service users feel they should just be able to take part in areas of the programme that they feel are relevant to them."
"People were uncomfortable having to reveal their diagnosis."
"People feel there are similar more accessible programmes available such as the Willow programme in ARCHES Recovery College CHO 6 and other Recovery Colleges and Recovery Education Services in partnership with NGOs."
The HSE are also engaging with the new Regional Health Area (RHA) structures, and the central MHER team will work with the RHAs to develop implementation plans for all MHER activity informed by a needs analysis to be conducted in each area to identify priorities. If the Eolas programme is identified as a need in an area, MHER will support the area to make the programme available to service users and families either as a whole programme, or in part, based on the need identified.
As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
