English: Cabinet Secretary, I know that we all want to see the best possible outcome when it comes to the mental health of children and young people, but you must feel the palpable disappointment from Members across this Chamber with the Government's response to this report. We know the problems, we know the solutions, but the Welsh Government seems reluctant to act. Accepting ideas in principle will not lead to action, and action is what we need. Every expert agrees the Welsh Government needs to act to ensure that the regional partnership boards have a mechanism to focus on children and young people. They must also require all regions to ensure that CAMHS and social care services provide an integrated service to children with emotional, behavioural and mental health needs. A whole-school approach, mapped and led jointly by health, education and social care is needed to guide schools, and this will ensure that the help that should be available for children and young people will be at the foundation of an equitable emotional and mental health service for young people and children in this country. Cabinet Secretary, these are technical policy solutions. Acronyms and jargon make us feel disconnected from the real effects that poor mental health service provision leads to. If anyone knows any teachers, young people's mental health is a matter raised by them all the time. It's impacting now on so many people. As so many people have said today, there is so much despair out there. When I was young and growing up, my mother's biggest fear for me was an early pregnancy. Now, I would say that most parents' greatest concerns are about their children's mental well-being. Quite late this morning, I posted on my Rhondda Facebook page that I was speaking in this debate, and the response was overwhelming. I want to make the Cabinet Secretary aware of some of the real stories behind some of these statistics. One person I'm not going to name gave the following account of their experience. 'I visited the GP four times to ask for help and was simply given links to online self-help guides in NLP. On the fourth and final occasion, I gave a full disclosure of my use of alcohol and cannabis as a form of self-medication and I said that I was suicidal. I wasn't leaving without him understanding how I felt and how desperate I had become. I was told that I would first have to stop drinking before I could access any further help and wait six months for the most basic counselling appointment. On 12 August, I attempted suicide. I was only interrupted by a friend coming home unexpectedly.' Now, that moment was a turning point for this person. They turned to friends for support and I'm pleased to say that they got it and are now in a much better place. A mother commented that her seven-year-old son suffers from anxiety. Despite the 28-day maximum waiting time for access to mental health support, she's now been waiting around four months. He is now on the verge of being excluded from school and even placed in a special school due to the school not being able to accommodate him without an official diagnosis. Anyone in a crisis cannot afford to wait, and, for children and young people, the urgency is even greater. Stories of children waiting months on end or being passed between child and adolescent mental health services were so prevalent in response to my Facebook post that I can't even scratch the surface here. If you read these pleas for help, Cabinet Secretary, I'm sure that you would agree that this is heartbreaking stuff, and for the families that suffer as a result of the system's inaction it is doubly so. So, please, listen to Members here today. Act with urgency. For some, this question is literally a matter of life or death. A child mental health crisis is brewing, and if you do not make urgent radical changes now we could be facing true disaster. I fully support the calls made by the Chair of the committee, who has spoken excellently in this debate. We all owe it to our future generations to get a much better grip on this question.
Welsh: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, gwn fod pob un ohonom eisiau gweld y canlyniad gorau posibl mewn perthynas ag iechyd meddwl plant a phobl ifanc, ond rhaid eich bod yn teimlo'r siom amlwg gan yr Aelodau ar draws y Siambr hon ynglŷn ag ymateb y Llywodraeth i'r adroddiad hwn. Gwyddom am y problemau, gwyddom am yr atebion, ond mae Llywodraeth Cymru yn ymddangos yn amharod i weithredu. Ni fydd derbyn syniadau mewn egwyddor yn arwain at weithredu, ac mae angen gweithredu. Mae pob arbenigwr yn cytuno bod angen i Lywodraeth Cymru weithredu i sicrhau bod gan y byrddau partneriaeth rhanbarthol fecanwaith i ganolbwyntio ar blant a phobl ifanc. Rhaid iddynt hefyd ei gwneud yn ofynnol i bob rhanbarth sicrhau bod CAMHS a gwasanaethau gofal cymdeithasol yn darparu gwasanaeth integredig i blant ag anghenion emosiynol, ymddygiadol ac iechyd meddwl. Mae angen dull ysgol gyfan, wedi'i fapio a'i arwain ar y cyd gan iechyd, addysg a gofal cymdeithasol i arwain ysgolion, a bydd hyn yn sicrhau y bydd y cymorth a ddylai fod ar gael i blant a phobl ifanc yn sylfaen i wasanaeth iechyd emosiynol ac iechyd meddwl teg ar gyfer pobl ifanc a phlant yn y wlad hon. Ysgrifennydd Cabinet, atebion polisi technegol yw'r rhain. Mae acronymau a jargon yn gwneud inni deimlo ein bod wedi'n datgysylltu oddi wrth yr effeithiau go iawn y mae darpariaeth gwasanaeth iechyd meddwl gwael yn arwain atynt. Os oes unrhyw un yn adnabod unrhyw athrawon, mae iechyd meddwl pobl ifanc yn fater a godir ganddynt drwy'r amser. Mae bellach yn effeithio ar gynifer o bobl. Fel y mae cynifer o bobl wedi dweud heddiw, mae cymaint o anobaith ynglŷn â hyn. Pan oeddwn yn ifanc ac yn tyfu i fyny, ofn mwyaf fy mam oedd beichiogrwydd cynnar. Nawr, buaswn yn dweud bod pryderon mwyaf y rhan fwyaf o rieni yn ymwneud â lles meddyliol eu plant. Yn eithaf hwyr y bore yma, postiais ar fy nhudalen Rhondda ar Facebook fy mod yn siarad yn y ddadl hon, ac roedd yr ymateb yn ysgubol. Rwyf am sicrhau bod Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet yn ymwybodol o rai o'r straeon go iawn sydd y tu ôl i rai o'r ystadegau hyn. Soniodd un unigolyn nad wyf yn mynd i'w enwi am eu profiad fel hyn. Ymwelais â'r meddyg teulu bedair gwaith i ofyn am help a'r cyfan a gefais oedd dolenni i ganllawiau hunangymorth ar-lein ar raglennu niwroieithyddol. Y pedwerydd tro, a'r tro olaf, datgelais fy nefnydd o alcohol a chanabis fel ffurf ar hunanfeddyginiaeth a dywedais fy mod yn teimlo fel cyflawni hunanladdiad. Nid oeddwn yn mynd i adael heb iddo ddeall sut roeddwn yn teimlo a pha mor anobeithiol roeddwn i'n teimlo bellach. Dywedwyd wrthyf y byddai'n rhaid i mi roi'r gorau i yfed cyn y gallwn gael unrhyw gymorth pellach ac aros chwe mis am yr apwyntiad cwnsela mwyaf sylfaenol. Ar 12 Awst, ceisiais gyflawni hunanladdiad. Tarfwyd arnaf gan ffrind yn dychwelyd adref yn annisgwyl. Nawr, roedd yr eiliad honno'n drobwynt i'r unigolyn dan sylw. Trodd at ffrindiau am gymorth ac rwy'n falch o ddweud iddynt ei gael ac maent mewn lle llawer gwell erbyn hyn. Dywedodd un fam fod ei mab saith oed yn dioddef o orbryder. Er gwaethaf y terfyn amser aros o 28 diwrnod ar gyfer cael cymorth iechyd meddwl, mae hi wedi bod yn aros ers tua pedwar mis. Mae bellach ar fin cael ei wahardd o'r ysgol a hyd yn oed ei leoli mewn ysgol arbennig oherwydd nad yw'r ysgol yn gallu darparu ar ei gyfer heb ddiagnosis swyddogol. Ni all unrhyw un mewn argyfwng fforddio aros, ac i blant a phobl ifanc, mae'r brys hyd yn oed yn fwy. Roedd straeon am blant yn aros misoedd bwy'i gilydd neu'n cael eu trosglwyddo rhwng gwasanaethau iechyd meddwl i blant a'r glasoed mor gyffredin mewn ymateb i fy sylw ar Facebook fel na allaf grafu'r wyneb yma hyd yn oed. Os ydych yn darllen yr erfyniadau hyn am help, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, rwy'n siŵr y byddech yn cytuno eu bod yn dorcalonnus, ac i'r teuluoedd sy'n dioddef o ganlyniad i ddiffyg gweithredu ar ran y system mae'n waeth byth. Felly, os gwelwch yn dda, gwrandewch ar yr Aelodau yma heddiw. Gweithredwch ar frys. I rai, mae'r cwestiwn hwn yn llythrennol yn fater o fyw neu farw. Mae argyfwng yn cyniwair ym maes iechyd meddwl plant, ac os na fyddwch yn gwneud newidiadau radical ar frys bellach, gallem wynebu trychineb go iawn. Rwy'n llwyr gefnogi'r galwadau a wnaed gan Gadeirydd y pwyllgor, sydd wedi siarad yn yn ardderchog yn y ddadl hon. Mae'n ddyletswydd arnom oll i gael gwell atebion i'r cwestiwn hwn er mwyn cenedlaethau'r dyfodol.