Mother of Mandurah teen lost to suicide challenges minister over mental health resources

Both young men died from suicide.

Both young men were lost to an epidemic that has been sweeping Mandurah and the Peel region since December, 2015.

Now Jake’s mum and step-dad are speaking out about the lack of mental health and suicide prevention resources in the Peel region as they struggle to find help for another of their sons.

Even though they are still mourning Jake, they said his older brother desperately needed help that had been almost impossible to find.

“I didn't realise how big an epidemic it was until it affected us, until our Jakey took his life,” Ms Anderson said.

“All of a sudden, when Jake passed away, I thought what is going on here with these kids?

“This an epidemic that is happening through the Peel region and I think then there was something like eight or 10 kids including in Waroona and Mandurah who passed away, and all under the age of 18.”

Ms Anderson said there were close to 1000 people at Jake’s memorial service, which was exactly a week after one held for Phoenix.

“My heart was going out to those kids because at that age they shouldn't have to deal with this time and time again,” she said.

“This is what the government must understand, the impact it has on the community; not just on us as a family, but these kids.”

After Jake died, his older brother couldn’t find help, the Andersons said.

“About three months ago, I'm trying to get help for him, from mental health services, trying to ring people and get appointments, to get him assessed,” Ms Anderson said.

“I kept saying, ‘He's a male, he's under 25, his brother has just committed suicide, I need some help here’.

“I was beating my head up against the wall.

“For him to get help in Perth, it took three trips to Peel Health Campus via the police and me begging, just begging them to keep him.”

Mr Anderson said it got to the stage they were so desperate they were hoping he would be arrested.

“Our only avenue was to ring the police and say, please, arrest this kid and put him into the system, thinking the only way this guy's going to get help is if he's institutionalised through the system,” he said.

Ms Anderson said she had made more than 30 calls trying to find help.

“You ring the mental health emergency team and you get a recording, and then they don't ring you back, or they do ring you back and then they say, we'll triage over the phone,” she said.

“For us, it's not just that we've lost one son, but we were desperate to get help for another son and I must have made 30 phone calls to try to get him assistance and every phone call was, ‘well, we can't help you’ or ‘we can, but it's in three weeks time’.”

Both Dan and Donna Anderson challenged mental health minster Andrea Mitchell, who said previously a youth suicide prevention program run by the Peel Youth Medical Service would not be funded because it duplicated existing services.

“She just doesn't have her finger on the pulse. She does not have an understanding of the real picture,” Ms Anderson said.

“It's very easy to sit in your office, and it's very easy to have advisers and look at statistics on paper, but on the front line, where those services are needed, where people are trying to tap in, they're just not there.”

Mr Anderson said: “I'd go as far as saying she'd be lying, if not she's fully deluded”.

“As far as I'm concerned, the word statistic means after the fact.

“And that was where this kid [Jake’s older brother] was headed, he was going to be a statistic.”

Ms Anderson said helping kids in the region struggling with mental health needed to be higher on the government’s agenda.

“Don't get me wrong, I know we have budgets and we need that to be a productive society, but I think it's about priorities and this needs to be a high priority,” she said.

“For Jakey, it's too late, but if they can do something, find something, just have an empathetic view on this, it may stop another family from going through this.”

Ms Mitchell defended the government’s funding of mental health programs in the region.

“I am assured by the Mental Health Commission that the services which receive state government funding in Mandurah are the most appropriate to the identified needs in the region and represent the best value for taxpayers’ dollars,” she said.

“Given the relatively close proximity of Mandurah to the metropolitan area , it is not unusual for people in the Peel area to access services in Perth.”

Ms Anderson said she would like to sit down with Ms Mitchell to discuss the issue.

“I'd be more than happy to meet with her and have a cup of tea with her; now I'm at the point where I could sit down and talk with her just to give her some insight,” she said.

A spokesperson for Ms Mitchell said the minister would welcome contact from the family.

Support is available by calling Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800, Lifeline on 131 114, or beyondblue on 1300 22 46 36.