Responding to increased demand

Monday, 29 July 2024

While our Annual Report, launched today, points to increased demand (up 7% on 2022) and a growth in the complexity of mental health presentations, it also tells the story of progress.

With the support of the HSE (Mental Health), philanthropy, corporate and public donations, Jigsaw spent over €17m in 2023 in the delivery a range of mental health services and supports across Ireland. And we are making a positive difference for so many families across the country. 2023 saw:

our highest number of in-person appointments to young people (45,376),
our highest ever number of referrals (8,952) in our 18-year history.
positive strides in relation to wait times
over 16,000 people attended mental health workshops and training courses
almost 500,000 people accessed online supports through jigsaw.ie.

Jigsaw has continued to innovate and respond to increasing demand and has remained steadfast in our desire to achieve better mental health outcomes for our young people. However, given the combined challenges of rising demand, a growth in complexity of presenting issues and an increase in costs, the question is, for how long?

The past year has highlighted, once again, that when adequately resourced, early interventionists mental health services like Jigsaw, can be highly effective. We have plans in place for service expansion, wait times reduction strategies, ongoing evolution of how our services are delivered, growth in breadth and depth of our work with communities, schools, online and more.

Today, we share the report with key stakeholders including all elected representative, key policy advisors, Seanad members and the media with and invitation to discuss further. What is clear is that given the current political climate and the soon-to-be announced Budget for 2025, our Annual Report tells a compelling story.

We want to share that story with you in our Annual Report for 2023.

Thank you to our volunteers, supporters, and employees for everything you continue to do.