Noeleen Eustace spoke in detail to Kfm about her family's struggle to get support.
A petition calling for dual diagnosis to be included in Ireland’s Mental Health Bill has gathered more than 1,600 signatures.
The petition was set up by Noeleen Eustace, the mother of young Newbridge man Kelvin Brennan who died by suicide in May of this year.
Yesterday, Ms Eustace spoke to Kfm about the "trauma" she and her 26-year-old son dealt with while trying to seek support.
She said her son attended an emergency department up to sixty times in a single year and had been expressing suicidal thoughts from a very young age.
She detailed how if he had any other health problems, such as a "broken leg or diabetes" he would have got a bed in a hospital.
Ms Eustace said dual diagnosis refers to people who experience both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder at the same time.
She explained how its absence from current legislation means patients cannot access proper treatment, particularly in emergency departments.
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