Our kids at crisis point

Children as young as 10 are calling helpline over self- harm

CHILDREN in Townsville as young as 10 are calling the Kids Helpline with self- harm and injury concerns, according to released data.

The 10 to 14- year- old age group also recorded the highest rate of contact incidents numbering 66 with the help- line between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.

Emotional wellbeing, mental health and child- parent relationships were the most common concerns for local kids.

There were a total of 191 counselling contacts and 214 information referrals across age groups 10 to 14, 15 to 18 and 19 to 25.

For teenagers aged between 15 and 18, the greatest concerns were mental health, emotional wellbeing, friend relationships and suicide. In young adolescents aged 19- 25, suicide and self- harm weren’t raised as major concerns, instead issues presented in this cohort were mental health and emotional wellbeing.

The data shows a decrease in counselling contacts as the cohort gets older, falling by nearly 10 contacts for youth aged between 19 and 25.

The top nine concerns reported by people calling up include the following: mental health concerns, emotional wellbeing, child- parent relationships, friend/ peer relationships, self- injury/ selfharm concerns, suicide- related concerns, dating and partner relationships, other family relationships and study and education issues.

Townsville mental health advocate Philippa Harris said the community needed to remain vigilant about providing access to good services and support.

“We need to be talking about stigma in accessing those services and schools are a great place to start, “she said.

“Schools have a really important role to play.

“I think our understanding of the issue has improved but we have a long way to go before we accept it as a part of life.

“There were far more people in the past who said ‘ it can’t happen to me’, but we’re improving and things are getting better … but we can’t take our eye off the ball in mental literacy at large.”

Ms Harris said youth were at greater risk of mental health problems.

“Unfortunately young people are more stressed through social media at much greater numbers than what they were in the past.

“Their vulnerability is exacerbated by that world and we see it puts a tremendous strain on them,” she said.

“Through learning how to manage life problems and coping with loss and failure, we can become more resilient.”