North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Teenager left waiting for help
After more than four years battling mental illness, a teenager is calling for better public mental health services.
The 17-year-old, who doesn’t want to be named, has had depression and emotional dysregulation since she was 13.
She has received counselling and therapy as part of the Waitemata District Health Board (DHB) Marinoto child and youth mental health service for years.
The Northcote teenager was hospitalised twice this year on suicide attempts, both two weeks apart, and subsequently diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
It was recommended she go through dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and waited more than eight weeks to be put into a DHB group programme.
She was then told it wasn’t available and she opted to move into a private programme, leaving her frustrated and feeling the public health system lacks proper resources.
‘‘I really need a psychologist, and they built up this expectation and then pushed us into private care...someone in an acute position shouldn’t have to wait eight weeks for therapy.’’
Her mother feels help is reactive rather than proactive.
‘‘It seems you need to do something fatal and put your life in complete danger before you receive any kind of help,’’ her mother says.
Waitemata DHB says it rejects any suggestion a lack of resourcing impacted on timely care for the patient.
In a statement, it says the DHB offers one-on-one sessions to patients waiting to start group DBT sessions.
The patient’s parent wanted immediate group sessions, rather than individual therapy, so the DHB found an available space for her with a private provider, it says.
National figures released by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in June revealed young people are facing long wait times for help, including 1337 waiting more than eight weeks.
Ministry of Health director of mental health Dr John Crawshaw says while the national target isn’t yet being met, progress is being made.
Over the past four years, the number of new youth clients seen in three weeks has increased by 7.2 per cent and the number seen in eight weeks has increased by 4.6 per cent, he says.