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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-04-05 Daily Xml
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REACHOUT.COM

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (15:27): My subject today is ReachOut.com. On 21 January, I had the pleasure of meeting with a young woman named Sarah Nelson, a year 12 student from Mount Gambier, who is with us here today. Sarah is a youth ambassador for ReachOut.com, an e-mental health service delivered by the Inspire foundation for young people aged 14 to 25.

Housing more than 500 fact sheets, videos and stories developed by young people in consultation with mental health professionals, ReachOut.com enables young people to access easy-to-understand resources to enable them to help themselves and their friends. Reach Out also features an online community forum where young people can learn strategies from each other to get through tough times, as well as gain support and a sense of connectedness from people going through similar experiences. The site seeks to reduce stigma and increase mental health literacy, social connectedness and help seeking.

Sarah was particularly passionate about the importance of Reach Out due to her own experiences with the website. When we met, Sarah told me how from a young age she struggled with an anxiety disorder without ever even realising what it was. When she began having daily panic attacks—attacks that would leave her heart racing and make her feel numb, dizzy and shaky—Sarah became desperate to know what was going on. Like many young people, she went looking for answers on the internet, and it was there that she found ReachOut.com and learnt for the first time that what she was experiencing was not her fault, but was likely to be an illness, a panic disorder. Reach Out helped Sarah discover that other people had similar experiences, that she was not, to use her words, 'so abnormal' after all, and that it was a normal and good thing to seek help.

Sarah's experience with Reach Out is indicative of the kind of assistance that the service provides to just under 400,000 young people around Australia every year. Findings from Inspire's 2010 national user survey showed that over 71 per cent of Reach Out's users were experiencing high to very high psychological distress, and yet only 53 per cent of these young people identified that dealing with their own distress was their primary purpose of visiting. Such lack of awareness and help seeking shows us that there is a huge need to increase mental health awareness in young people, reduce the stigma they feel, and construct services that can provide help to young people, even if they are unaware of how or unable to yet seek it.

Ninety-two per cent of 15 to 17 year olds use the internet, and after family and friends, it is where they turn to for advice and support in difficult times. It is accessible, anonymous, engaging and informative, providing a space where young people can feel empowered and confident to talk about sensitive issues. Thus, with suicide continuing to be a leading cause of death for young people under the age of 25, and with rising rates of anxiety, depression and other mental illness among our young people, Reach Out has a critical role to play in providing a safe space for young people to access information and find their own help.

I would just like to now read a bit that Sarah said in her speech to the National Youth Parliament:

Anxiety makes life such a struggle. It affects not only the individual, but the people around them. So, what help is available? In cities you have access to counsellors, psychiatrists, psychologists, specialists, GPs, doctors, youth facilities, and on and on the list goes. Rural towns do not have this advantage. In Mount Gambier we have school counsellors, backlogged GPs and a community health service known as CAMHS. CAMHS currently has a six-month waiting list due to such high demand and a backlog due to emergencies. Because of this, suicide is one of the biggest killers of youth in Mount Gambier. We need help. Our town is in a situation few could honestly comprehend. Kids are dying.

Every year at youth parliament, mental health is brought up, proving to me that it isn't just us facing this never-ending battle. We need the government's help. We need the government's support. We need whatever we can get. We are trapped in a struggle that has seemingly no end. I plead, I beg, I implore, please help us. We need the support and action of the government or there will never be an end. More kids will die.

That is coming from a lot of our young people.

I would like to thank minister Portolesi and minister Hill for meeting with Sarah today, and also Aram Hosie, who is the managing director of Reach Out and research and policy in that part. I would also like to thank the Hon. John Dawkins from the Legislative Council, who has met with Sarah at various times, too. To this end, I would encourage members to familiarise themselves with this fantastic service and look forward to continuing to support Sarah and the Inspire foundation, and help young people lead happier lives through the delivery of ReachOut.com.

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