Adolescent Mental Health

02 Oct Adolescent Mental Health

Dear Here to Help,

My son has been engaged with adolescent mental health services for some time and I’m so frustrated!!

It took months to get a psychologist appointment and when we did, we could only get them during school hours, and he’s already missing too much school. Surely, they should have more after school services? Missing more school is only adding to his stress.

I hear stories of parents who have to take their kids to the emergency department in a crisis because they have no other options. They haven’t been able to make contact with mental health professionals. When the kids get discharged from hospital, there is often little follow up, which increases the likelihood of having to return to hospital. There has got to be a better way!

For my son they seem to only have 1 treatment model, rather than tailor it to the individual, as we are all different.

How are we supposed to help young people get better? Why are there so few services available, both public and private? Young people deserve better services! Mental health needs more funding.

Wow! That’s tough.

Every young person, every carer and every situation is different and our health services should be able to respond individually. You can help them do that.

It can be easy for government employees, including mental health services, to get into a groove, and keep doing what they do. As infuriating as this can be, you need to remember you are dealing with human beings. Human beings with friends, family and real feelings. Be kind and respectful to them.

You do have control over your, and your family’s healthcare. Here are some tips to help you get the best results for you:

• Join a help group – there are help groups and patient associations for many illnesses, for both carers and patients
• Explore – look at what other mental health services, in Australia and internationally, do. Also, look at what has worked for other people
• Hold them accountable – if they say they are going to do something, follow-up (and keep following up) to make sure it happens
• Make tangible suggestions – give them ideas on what might work for you, including what you promise to do as your, or your child’s, part of the “bargain”
• Keep going – persistence works well with bureaucracies
• Escalate things – talk to the head of the health service, or your local MP, about making their working hours more accessible for their patients, to help avert unnecessary ED admission (ironically after hours)

Let me know how you go.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, October 2025. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.