By Romy Stephens
No mother wants to see her child trapped within the mental health system, but for Lydia, that’s the harsh reality she has faced. Her son, James, has suffered from mental health and drug issues since he was a teenager.
For roughly five years, James has been a victim of a system that she says has insufficient resources to help. It’s stories like this which have prompted a Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system.
“My son is 24 and suffers from mental health and has been in and out of the system,” Lydia said.
“He’s been in both Casey and Dandenong psych wards. From that experience, all I’ve been able to ascertain is that the mental health system needs a massive overhaul.”
James’ mental health has been deteriorating since he was about 19-years-old. Since then, he has suffered from drug addiction and seen numerous psychiatrists and counsellors.
Lydia says no one has had the resources to provide regular guidance and the help he needs.
“There is no support once these people are in the system, it’s basically a revolving door.”
“They don’t have the resources in the wards to look after these people so they get them to a particular point and then they’re pushed back out into society basically left to fend for themselves.
“Once their times up then they’re just pushed back out again. It’s a tick and flick thing and nobody checks up on them.
“These people are so vulnerable and so broken and the system doesn’t help them.”
Earlier this year, the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System held a series of community consultation sessions across the state, encouraging people with mental health issues to have their voices heard.
Lydia was an attendee at the Pakenham session in April. She said that although it was an enlightening experience, the session proved there is a serious issue with the mental health system and lack of support for people like herself and her son.
“That was quite an interesting experience. There were a lot of different demographics in the audience.”
“To sit in a room with 50-60 people and hear stories from people who had been through what I had been through.
“They ended up with five people who had lost children to suicide on the same table. That was devastating to watch and to hear that these kids had been lost in the system and felt that no one could help them.
“It’s a crisis and it’s one of those that I just don’t think we really direct too much mind too unless we know somebody who’s been caught up in it.”
Since the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System kicked off in March this year, community consultations have rolled out across the state and opportunities have risen for those impacted to have their say.
The aim of the Royal Commission is to provide Victorians with a clear and ambitious set of actions that will help change the state’s mental health system.
Lydia says the community session was valuable, but she is not getting her hopes up on real change until something tangible happens.
“At the moment it’s just talk.”
“They were very supportive and very concerned about the mental health system and they took notes and took a lot of stuff on board.
“Whether that actually changes anything is yet to be seen.”
She says there needs to be a complete overhaul of the entire mental health system.
“They really need to pull it apart, they have done the band-aid effect instead of doing a root-cause effect.”
“It’s that bogged down in regulations and red tape that it’s dysfunctional now.
“They need to pull it back to the bones.”
For more information on the Royal Commission visit, https://rcvmhs.vic.gov.au/
If you or someone you know needs to speak to someone about mental health issues, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
*For privacy reasons, the names used in this article are pseudonyms.
