Online help could reduce the number of rural young people committing suicide by giving them more support and greater access to mental health services.
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Dr Jane Burns from the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre said expanded online services, like those already offered by headspace in Ballarat, could make a real difference.
“For the most vulnerable (young people)...their first port of call will be sourcing information on the internet,” she said.
“The (mental health) sector needs to come together for a more united approach. This is no longer about online and offline being separate.
“People (could be) using technology in a way that looks after their mental health and wellbeing.”
Dr Burns underlined her call for greater resources online with the shocking statistics around youth suicide in regional areas.
Twice as many males aged 15 to 29 commit suicide in rural and regional areas than in major cities, she said.
The rate is less for women, but still higher in the country.
Dr Burns spoke as part of a Australian Science Media Centre briefing, in which Federation University researcher Dr Liz Temple also said alcohol was still the most damaging substance for mentally ill people despite recent increases in ice use.
“(People in) regional cities are reporting higher proportions in the range that would put them in the alcohol dependence category,” she said.
Dr Temple is working on a study looking at alcohol use, with 468 people aged 18-30 around Victoria completing surveys on their drinking.
“The regional group is significantly more likely to report getting very drunk than metro or rural groups.”
“This drinking (can be) around coping, with feelings of depression, anxiety. Drinking to self-medicate.”
Black Dog Institute clinical psychologist Fiona Shand said the higher country drinking rate was a risk factor for suicide.
“Ninety per cent of substance abuse is alcohol .. there’s also less help available,” she said.
“People in rural Australia seem less likely to seek help as well as having less access to services.”
Dr Shand also highlighted the disparity of outcome between mentally ill young people in metropolitan and regional areas.
The proportion of young people who experience mental illness sits at about one quarter nationally, but the suicide rates diverge when leaving the cities.
“What we find that the rates of mental illness are not that different in regional areas (compared to cities),” said she said.
If you need help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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