Posts tagged mental health

I’m not sure if his speech is online, but I hope you can track down a copy if you haven’t heard it yet.

He pretty eloquently set out the reasons why mental health shouldn’t be treated as a ‘second class citizen’ in the government’s approach to health funding.  If expanding mental health services can “eliminate many of the 370,000 Australian life-years lost annually to mental ill-health, make suicide less common and reduce social problems such as homelessness, family breakdown and violence”, well, we can all really get a more bang for our buck, can’t we?

Mental health is a really important issue for me. 

I am currently working on two pro bono matters for clients dealing with mental health problems.

It often occurs to me that if these two people and their families (who, sadly, come from fairly disadvantaged circumstances to start with) had access to proper mental health care at the times when they needed it, they wouldn’t be in the predicaments they are in.  Or at least things might not be so bad for them.  We’re doing our best for them, Julia.  It’s just such a shame to see their lives (and the lives of their families) destroyed by this silent, deadly killer.  And to see two people who can no longer contribute to our society, become a burden on their families and their communities.

The other reason I care so much about this issue is even more personal: I nearly didn’t finish my law degree because I had a complete breakdown in my final year of uni.  I have blogged about it elsewhere, but this year I have taken some pretty big steps to join the growing movement advocating changes in the way we deal with mental health.

The first is resilience@law — a project aimed at reducing the stigma around the mental health problems (epidemic?) in the legal profession raised by the University of Sydney’s Brain & Mind Institute in the Courting the Blues report (2009).  

I offered to help in anyway that I could when my law firm announced they were going to be part of this project; when they asked me to tell my story on a video that may be seen by some people… I said yes without hesitating.

Professor Geoff Gallop is also on the video (and he gave the keynote address at the launch).  If it wasn’t for his brave decision to quit his job and explain that he had been suffering from depression, and that he was going to get treatment, I might not be here today.

Turned out I had depression rather badly.  Part of the problem was I didn’t really know I had it.  I knew something was wrong; I just didn’t know what it was — so I didn’t know how to seek help.  The other part of the problem was that for the teensy percentage of me that sorta-kinda knew I was depressed………. well, I didn’t want to tell anyone because I thought everyone would think I was an idiot.

Actually. Even I thought I was an idiot.

Turned out I wasn’t an idiot — I was just sick.

So when the opportunity arose for me to say: “Hey, it’s ok to be depressed.  Guess what, you can get treatment and get better and live a happy life,” I was really glad to do it.

The other project is through Lifeline WA called HelpMe, which is going to be launched on 30 July 2010 at the Black Diamond Ball.  This project is also aimed at addressing the stigma that keeps people from talking about their mental health problems and seeking help.  It is about to helping people move out from the shadows and into the light.

I read the entry on ABC’s The Drum last week by Richard Parker telling his story about living with depression.  Like the stories on the resilience@law video and those that will be part of the HelpMe campaign, Richard’s voice is but one of many that are ringing out about an issue that as for so long been symbolised by silent suffering.

Like Professor McGorry did today, Richard Parker points out that problems with alcoholism and drug abuse (which are also so costly to our community) are more than anecdotally linked to mental health problems.

As I mentioned before — if it’s value for money you’re look for (considering all the difficult policy decisions you have to make as PM) Daryll Kerrigan would no doubt reckon that investing in mental health was “a bargain”.

It’ll probably pay for itself before you even get to Bonnydoon!

And it’ll also address real anxieties in our community and make a real difference.

Warm regards
Sunili