THE Maitland arm of the national youth mental health foundation expects to see a 50 per cent increase in the number of people it sees this year compared to the same period last year.
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Director of community services at Samaritans, the lead agency which administers headspace at Maitland, Rob Dawson attributed the change to a decline in negative stigma around mental health and increased awareness about support services.
“There’s been a significant culture shift in recent years and we’ve moved from not talking about these issues at all to becoming acutely aware of the importance of asking ‘Are you OK?’,” he said.
“You could be disturbed by the numbers and asking ‘Why is there demand?’, but people are reporting when they leave us that they don’t feel as anxious, distressed and concerned as before. If we see an increase in numbers of people getting more skills, tools, resources and support, then that’s a good thing.”
headspace.org.au, Lifeline: 13 11 14
