Today's post is by Lauren Watson
If you are at risk and need help, please contact one of these wonderful organisations who do so much and can really help you through:
Lifeline: 0800 543 354
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO
Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757
Youthline: 0800 376 633
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO
Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757
Youthline: 0800 376 633
The Problem
This year has really highlighted our shameful quality of
mental health support. In May, the Public Service Association released
a survey that found 60 percent of New
Zealanders thought the government wasn’t doing enough for mental health. In
2013, suicide was the
third-leading cause of premature death in New Zealand after heart disease and
lung cancer, and New Zealand has the
highest rate of youth suicide in the world.
Currently, people who are struggling with mental health are
directed towards their GP. There, they can discuss their symptoms, be treated,
and establish ways to manage their issues. Some District Health Boards have
targeted specialist Community Mental Health Services, but you normally need a referral from a GP. University students may
have access to limited but funded counselling services. Private psychiatrists
are also available for those that can afford them.
However, these current access points have the same issues as
most health systems in Aotearoa: accessibility and capacity. There aren’t
enough GPs, the services they are meant to refer you to suffer from a severe
lack of counsellors, and there is a massive underfunding of most mental health
services. Support has not kept up with need, with an increase of 60 percent in
mental health service users but only a 28 percent increase in funding since
National came to power. The problem is
exacerbated by poverty; when people cannot afford the copayment (the fee to
see a GP), the loss of time at work or school, or cannot get transport.
Additionally, our social expectations around mental health have
a strong influence. It is much harder for guys to go to the GP to talk about
how they are feeling, in a country where men are not encouraged to express
their feelings openly. This leads us to the much
higher rates of suicide amongst men (double the rate of women), despite
women having double the rate of (reported) depression. These issues don’t
operate in a vacuum, and there are a
multitude of risk factors that increase the likelihood of someone to commit suicide.
Those with the highest
levels of deprivation (based on the things that households lack) are
significantly more at risk of suicide.
The Government
In terms of what policy is needed in order to improve the
mental health of our communities, like most policy questions, there is no duct
tape to fix it. Rising mental health issues in New Zealand are a symptom of
many underlying problems across the facets of our society. The Ministry
of Health’s new suicide prevention strategy is yet to be fully released,
but the suggested actions from their hui have been:
This is because most mental health problems are caused or exacerbated by a loss of support, whether that be from family or the community. So, trying to increase those bonds in communities decreases rates of depression. This is the hardest action point to achieve considering it’s so vague. Targeted programs such as getting groups of teenagers together outside of the pressures of school can be helpful for building communities and can target specific groups, such as young Māori men who are at greater risk of committing suicide. This leads in particularly well to the next action point.
Developing mentoring programs
The notion behind this is straightforward in that it helps ensure a safety net for two groups of teenagers going through transition periods: year 9s coming into high school and year 13s who are moving out of their high school communities. Mentoring programs can be utilised to ensure that both groups build relationships of support, which are key to establish networks that people can reach out to. However, the quality of these programs will depend on the school, and schools that have high bullying rates may not think that this is appropriate as it may be a way for students to be isolated and picked on.
Training parents on how to talk to their children about suicide, depression, and self-harm
Whānau is another protective factor when it comes to mental illness, so building capacity within families is crucial for helping teenagers communicate the different problems they may face in their lifetimes. However, this intervention will only benefit those that have strong family networks and will increase the disparities between those with and without parents that can take time to explain these concepts.
Teaching resilience and coping skills in schools.
This is another tough one to implement considering teachers already have so much to work into their curriculums. Additionally, as with most universal systems, the ones that need to learn are the least likely to be the ones that pick up the skills, particularly in a classroom setting where peer pressure is at work. However, when put in conjunction with a mentoring system you could better focus these messages to those that are most at risk.
Whānau is another protective factor when it comes to mental illness, so building capacity within families is crucial for helping teenagers communicate the different problems they may face in their lifetimes. However, this intervention will only benefit those that have strong family networks and will increase the disparities between those with and without parents that can take time to explain these concepts.
Teaching resilience and coping skills in schools.
This is another tough one to implement considering teachers already have so much to work into their curriculums. Additionally, as with most universal systems, the ones that need to learn are the least likely to be the ones that pick up the skills, particularly in a classroom setting where peer pressure is at work. However, when put in conjunction with a mentoring system you could better focus these messages to those that are most at risk.
The Parties
To be brutally honest, no one term government is going to
fix our mental health services. Jacinda cannot wave her magic wand and hope for
instant improvements, and National have shown that in their three terms the
mental health outcomes have only gotten worse. Both major parties have similar
policies regarding increasing funding both to DHBs and nationwide health spending, but this is a long-term issue. We need
more GPs so that wait times for second mental health appointments aren’t after 8 weeks.
NZ
First want to conduct a mental health inquiry, Labour wants to reestablish the Mental Health
Commission, and the Green party wants to do both. The Green
Party also recently announced that they would provide free counselling to
all under 25-year-olds, part of a $263
million youth mental health plan. The Māori Party have
strong policy support for mental health reform, particularly because their
constituents and communities are heavily affected by it. National want to
continue what they’re doing and take
a social investment approach to mental health, although they have acknowledged their shortcomings during the
Budget proposal at the start of the year.
Ultimately the key theme for the political parties is: more. Only through the funding of
successful programs within schools like mentorship, reaching out to parents, and
training teachers to communicate mental illness symptoms
and coping mechanisms, can we start to address this issue where it is worst. At
the same time, we must introduce interventions that minimise the social
disillusionment that some groups face, bringing communities together to create
better support structures for people to fall back on.
Regardless, the policy of any incoming government needs to address this as soon as possible. The
more we undercut the little effectiveness that we have in our mental health
services, the more suicides we will have in our communities.
Lauren Watson a second
year Law and Health science conjoint majoring in population health at the
University of Auckland. She is a volunteer for UN Youth and also writes for Craccum.
Helpful post.
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