Help is at hand

“MENTAL health is a serious issue facing the Geelong region but those suffering shouldn’t have to battle alone.

“The Geelong Advertiser understands its role in uniting the community, raising awareness and breaking down the stigma of the illness.

“We encourage you to keep this guide as an important local resource. It is full of expert local advice, personal stories and helpful information. “We’re in this together.” Those words introduced the Geelong Advertiser’s The Mental

Health Guide on October 3, which notified readers Mental Health Week 2019 was to take place in Geelong from October 5 to October 11.

The week also embraced World Mental Health Day, organised by the World Federation for Mental Health, which was last Thursday, October 10, and is marked as a day for global education on mental health, awareness and advocacy.

But returning home, it is estimated one in four Australians aged 15 to 24 suffer a mental illness — almost unbelievable — while in 2017-18 one in five of our total population, or some 4.8 million people, had a mental or behavioural condition, an increase from about four million, or 17.5 per cent, in 2014-15.

According to Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, in an article in the Herald Sun, there were 3040 recorded suicides in Australia last year.

And Geelong’s Jason Trethowan, now chief executive of headspace, also in a Herald Sun article, said suicide remained the leading cause of death of young Australians, despite the efforts to put mental health on the agenda of all Australians.

But there is no doubt, in my mind anyway, there is a much better understanding among the wider Australian public, of mental illness today than there was 20 years ago.

Yes, a stigma remains, especially in relation to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, perhaps because they are associated with violence in the eyes of some people.

But even here I believe change is happening because, if the national and state figures are to be believed, most Australian families are somehow touched by mental illness.

People with mental illness are no longer locked away in asylums and forgotten about, but are part of our wider community, mixing with us and trying to contribute.

But, for some, perhaps most, it is not easy.

They need encouragement, understanding and, most importantly, support.

That is what Mental Health Week and World Mental Health Day try to get across to people.

My wife and I have shared the experience of our youngest son, who has had a 20-year battle with schizophrenia, and, for the past 12 years, has been treading the road to recovery.

His experiences have been recounted in this newspaper and others, and he has also written a book about his journey.

It has not been an easy path for him nor, at times, the wider family, but he has made tough decisions and followed them through and the family has supported him.

He is working as senior peer support worker in mental health with Barwon Health and helping others by sharing his lived experience.

But turning again to The Mental Health Guide, I am sure it can be helpful to people with mental illness and their families, and that the list of local and national organisations offering support indicates how importantly our society now regards mental illness.

But there was one organisation — it is named GROW — that did not rate a mention and it was a major influence in our son’s road to recovery.

GROW is a sort of AA for people with mental illness, founded in Sydney in 1957 and now with groups through Australia, including Geelong.

It encourages its members to continue professional psychiatric support, but enables people with varying types and degrees of mental illness to come together in a self-supporting environment and learn from and help one another.

GROW has had an important and positive impact on our son and I think it important that people know it exists.