• More staff than before - successful recruitment of specialists

• Strong mental health services for children in the North and East of Iceland

As announced, services provided by the Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Team (BUG) at the Akureyri Hospital (SAk) will be transferred to the Healthcare Institution of North Iceland (HSN) from October 1st. It will be part of the HSN psychosocial services, which have provided basic services (mild to moderate problems) to children and adults and treat individuals with more serious and complex problems within the adult mental health team.

As a result of this transfer, HSN will also be able to provide services to children with serious and complex problems, both in the north and east of Iceland, with the support of the Child Mental Health Centre. As a result, the number of permanent positions in the child and youth mental health team has been increased from the number at SAk and new specialists have been employed.

María Bjarnadóttir, social worker has been hired as team leader and social worker of the team. She previously worked as team leader of the treatment team at the Children and Adolescent Psychiatric ward at Landspítali (BUGL). Additionally, Anna Lilja Sigurvinsdóttir, psychologist who was previously in the adult mental health team at HSN and Ingibjörg Ragna Malmquist, psychologist who had her own practice and before that at the Capital Region Healthcare Center. Dr. Hugrún Hauksdóttir, Friðrik Már Ævarsson, psychologist, Róshildur Arna Ólafsdóttir, psychologist and Elín Karlsdóttir, psychologist were all working in the BUG team at SAk and will continue to do so in the new mental health team at HSN. Ester Dögg Jónsdóttir, health information specialist, will also be part of the team, she is currently working at HSN.

“We see great opportunities to strengthen services and continuity in mental health services for children and young people in the north and east of Iceland under the hat of HSN, so getting experienced and good people to work in a new mental health team is a huge strength. HSN has great ambition to do this well,” says Alice Harpa Björgvinsdóttir, director of psychosocial services at HSN. “Now all services will be in one place, which will shorten communication channels, strengthen cross-sectoral cooperation and improve flow between service levels. In addition, a larger team than before will enable us to care for more children and teenagers than before.”

The HSN mental health team will treat children with moderate to severely complex problems that require the involvement of a team or for those children who need more, longer and more specialized services than are provided in primary health care. The mental health team will also provide services to children and young people in East Iceland. The goal is to strengthen services for children and adolescents in their immediate surroundings and their families in good cooperation with cooperating organizations, such as SAk, BUGL, the Children’s Mental Health Centre, health care in the home area, schools and social services. Emergency cases will still be handled at the Akureyri Hospital but in cooperation with the HSN mental health team to ensure continuity of the service.

We welcome new people and look forward to seeing a strong mental health team for children and young people at HSN become a reality.