Mike King handed back his Order of Merit the day before Gumboot Day because he was so disillusioned at the lack of progress in mental health services. Photo / Mike King, Instagram
Mike King handed back his Order of Merit the day before Gumboot Day because he was so disillusioned at the lack of progress in mental health services. Photo / Mike King, Instagram
OPINION:
Friday was Gumboot Day – the day when people raise money for Mike King's mental health charity.
I Am Hope is a youth and community support group that funds private care and counselling for kids stuck on DHB waiting lists. Last year the trust funded 15,500 desperately needed counsellingsessions for kids aged between 5 and 24 and, while that's impressive, there is still much more work that needs to be done in the mental health sphere.
In fact, Mike King, the former New Zealander of the Year, handed back his Order of Merit to the Government the day before Gumboot Day because he was so disillusioned at the lack of progress.
King, who was awarded the honour because of his work on suicide prevention and mental health, said when the Government announced $1.9 billion worth of funding for mental health services, he was euphoric and optimistic that the money would fund meaningful change. Three years on, he feels like everybody has been let down.
And listening to my callers trying to get help for themselves or the people they love, it's hard to see how anything has changed, even with that massive investment.
One mum rang me to say the police had returned her 14-year-old daughter to her after she was talked down from the top of a parking building. Even though her daughter was described as an urgent case, she has absolutely no idea when she'll be seen by a health professional.
"It must be terrifying for family members to see their loved ones desperate and in pain and be unable to provide any help for them." Photo / Nik Shuliahin, Unsplash
Others told of loved ones being discharged from hospital after suicide attempts because there was simply nowhere for them to stay where they could be safe. Many callers talked of giving up on the waiting lists and ringing round private psychologists and psychiatrists only to find that they were overwhelmed and weren't taking on new clients.
It must be terrifying for family members to see their loved ones desperate and in pain and be unable to provide any help for them.
We have the highest youth suicide rate in the world and we're about mid-range for total suicides overall. Every year about 15,000 people come to emergency departments experiencing a mental health crisis or at risk of suicide.
Between July 2018 and June 2019, 685 people took their own lives - the highest number New Zealand has ever recorded - and last year it was 654.
But enough with the numbers. The numbers are people. That's 654 families who have been absolutely devastated and 654 people who were in so much pain and who were so tired from battling that they went under.
The only glimmer of light in these tragic figures is that youth suicide decreased slightly last year from 73 to 59 in the 15- to 19-year-old age group and advocates are hoping the decrease means some of the initiatives that have been put in place are starting to bear fruit.
But there is still so much more to do. People told me of six-month waiting times even for cases considered urgent.
Many of those working in mental health are burnt out and exhausted, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people needing their help and limited as to what they can do because of a lack of resources. There are currently 385 vacancies for mental health nurses on Seek, and 431 opportunities for counsellors and psychologists.
It's fantastic the Government has provided funding for improved mental health services, but simply promising the money doesn't magic up health professionals out of thin air.
I applaud Mike King for his passion and his energy to make life better for our kids. And I feel so desperately sorry for all those people who are struggling just to get through each day, with no idea when they will get the help that they need. And for the 654 families who last year had to learn to live their lives without a mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife or child.
