Last week, children and their parents were urged to ask each other: “Are you okay?”
Part of a campaign run to coincide with the United Nation’s World Suicide Prevention Day, R U OK Day is an admirable effort to get kids talking.
It is the first step to mental wellness, and vital for our teenagers, especially those at risk from depression.
But what if the person you ask is, in fact, not okay?
What then?
Where do they go for the professional advice they most probably need?
The question is, of course, only a small part of the answer and Mandurah’s mental health services, especially for young people, still fall far short of the mark.
While we are urging teenagers to make sure their mates are alright, the government is still telling us we have all the services we need.
This just doesn’t add up.
It has largely been left up to donations from the community to fund the gap in services experienced by young people desperate to talk.
There is still no full-time, publicly funded counselling service for teenagers in the city.
For a regional city the size of Mandurah in a region as diverse as the Peel, this is just unacceptable.
Treatment options range from nothing, to travel to Perth, to hospitalisation.
On Saturday, Mandurah Mustangs – a local footy team devastated by suicide earlier this year – announced they were looking to build a Headspace headquarters at their new offices.
This initiative is another example of concerned private citizens stepping in when governments won’t.
The new Youth Health Hub is not even fully funded – despite a generous $3 million contribution by the federal government driven by Canning MP Andrew Hastie – and the state government is still holding out on funding GP down south’s Three-Tier Youth Suicide Prevention Program.
There are too many gaps in services.
Yes, let’s ask each other if we’re okay.
But let’s also make sure it’s not just lip service, and we have a real solution when the answer is actually “no”.
Support is available by calling Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800, Lifeline on 131 114, or beyondblue on 1300 22 46 36.
Nathan Hondros
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
