TRANSCRIPT
Suicide is the leading cause of preventable deaths in young Australians aged 10-24 years.
Mental health helplines report receiving millions of calls each year from people looking for support.
And for the first time, a study has outlined a strong link between access to mental health services and suicide rates.
Dr Nicole Hill led the study, which was a collaboration between the Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Melbourne and the Curtin School of Population Health.
She says the results proved how essential mental health support services are.
"We looked at the geographic distribution of youth suicide across the country, in young people under the age of 25. And the key findings from this study was really that there was significantly lower access to mental health services in communities across Australia that have experienced suicide hotspots, or what we would describe as having significantly greater rates of suicide and young people than what we would randomly expect."
National coronial data was used by researchers to map the suicides of 1,959 young people aged 10-24 who died between 2016-2020.
Researchers investigated the number of mental health services and mental health staff available, opening times, and travel time to services at the time the young people died by suicide.
It found communities with poor access to mental health services are eight times more likely to be youth suicide hotspots.
Large parts of remote and regional Western Australia, Queensland, and parts of country New South Wales and South Australia were identified as particular hotspots for youth suicide.
Dr Hill says the study also exposed other issues within communities with high rates of youth suicide.
"We found that young people who died in in these hotspot communities had significantly more evidence of illicit substance use which was indicated in the toxicology report that we looked at. And when we we examined whether illicit drug use was associated with suicide hotspots, we actually found that there was a 90 per cent increased odds that someone with illicit substance use might be involved in a hotspot."
By comparing communities with higher and lower rates of suicide, Dr Hill says it became clear access to mental health services may be a protective factor for young people.
The risk of suicide increases significantly during middle to late adolescence - which is why many mental health services provide targeted youth support.
Lifeline is Australia's largest suicide prevention service provider.
Chief Research Officer Dr Anna Brooks says mental health support services can be the difference between life and death.
"They can change lives really having having access to support means that people who may not know you know what next steps to take may feel helpless and hopeless and be experiencing some really, really challenging thoughts are able to actually go somewhere and seek support that actually is able to help them change their thoughts or find ways through those really difficult moments. So having support in place for people across the lifespan is absolutely critical."
Patrick McGorry is the Executive Director of Orygen, the national centre of excellence in youth mental health and a professor of youth mental health at the University of Melbourne.
He says youth suicide and harm statistics are alarming.
"Youth suicide is the greatest killer of young people, greatest cause of premature death in young people, teenagers, young adults. And it's obviously more common in young men. But it's rising more sharply in young women. So it's a increasingly serious problem. Completed suicide is really like the tip of a much bigger iceberg of deliberate self harm. And I suppose, other forms of risk in that young people sort of experience so you can look at the raw numbers, but behind that is a much much deeper and more serious problem."
Dr Brooks says each year, over 1 million Australians reach out to Lifeline for support.
"We're in touch with between three and 4000 people a day who are reaching out to our voice, chat and text crisis support services. So that's that's a lot of Australians every day who are seeking support in their toughest moment. For anyone who is feeling like they're coping mechanisms are overwhelmed. Feeling distress without knowing exactly what to do about it. Please, please reach out to a source of support that you trust. It might be a GP, it might be a family member, or it might be lifeline via our call chat and tech services. So please do if you're not sure about what comes next for you. Please do make sure that you that you reach out for support from one of those sources."
Professor McGorry says more needs to be done to improve mental health support for young people.
"We know that there's been a 50 per cent increase in prevalence of mental health and young people over the last 15 years in Australia. The reasons are still not clear but they have to do with the increasing insecurity and precarity of their lives. What we can do is probably understand that better and try to prevent it turn off the tap of mental ill health. And then secondly, in the meantime, we've got to respond with much more proactive and accessible youth mental health services which are really struggling at the moment even though we've we've built a quite a strong base with Headspace around the country, but it's overwhelmed with this surge in demand and it needs a major rethink."
And if you or someone you know needs crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.
