Mothers’ plea: Save our teens
A GOLD Coast mother has created a heartbreaking video imploring Australian politicians to do more to help combat teen suicide.
The 10-minute open-letter video Taken by suicide tells the stories of 12 grieving mothers and the child they lost to suicide in the past two years.
The pain in the mothers’ voices is all too clear as they ask for more to be done to ensure other parents do not experience their pain.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data in 2017 showed that suicide was the leading cause of death among those aged 15-44 with 3128 people dying ain Australia.
Ursula Wharton’s 17-yearold son Josh took his own life in late 2017. She is fighting to save other kids.
“He had a good heart,” she said of her son.
“He was a beautiful boy. He had a lot to give, a lot of talent. He was my son.
“Josh was the one who was there for others, so when he went it caused this huge tsunami effect within his circle.”
Ms Wharton said she had been fighting for change in the teen mental health space before Josh died.
“Why does it take my son dying for me to be listened to? I still don’t feel heard, we fought for so long in the lead up to his death for help,” she said. “We have this intimate knowledge of what goes on, that mental health and medical professionals don’t see.
“When I asked other mums if they would be interested in doing something a lot of people were in.
“We have a piece of the puzzle. If they started listening to us and accepting what we say as needs – because people are saying the same thing over and over again – they’d be able to make a lot of effective changes in a small amount of time.”
She said there needed to be a shake-up in the industry.
“The ultimate goal is to save other children’s lives. It’s a complex issue and a lot of things need to happen.
“A lot of people can’t afford to get the help they need – money shouldn’t be a barrier. We have this huge gap in the middle where there are people with intermediate and complex needs that aren’t critical, but are certainly far from being able to wait until next week.”
Ms Wharton said she hoped that the video would make the government take note and be more proactive in helping teens with mental health issues.
“One of the problems with a lot of mental health services is, if someone is disengaged, they just say, ‘if you don’t engage, we can’t engage’, instead of pursuing the person to help them. There are so many of these kids,” she said.
If you or someone you know needs help, phone Lifeline on 131 114.
WHY DOES IT TAKE MY SON DYING FOR ME TO BE LISTENED TO? URSULA WHARTON