Demand for mental health care among under-20s has spiked in the last two years, according to a new Government report. They were hopeful, though, that increased Government funding would soon make a bigger impact.
The report, titled ‘Te Huringa: Change and Transformation’, was released by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission last Tuesday. It aimed to show the performance of Aotearoa’s mental health services between 2016-21.
Amongst the findings of the report were that “coercive practices,” such as solitary confinement and compulsory treatment orders (where a court can legally order someone to undergo mental health treatment for 6 months), remained stubbornly persistent across the mental health system. Māori, in particular, are disproportionately affected by this: 48% of those in solitary confinement and 39% of those undergoing compulsory treatment were Māori.
The report also found that demand for mental health services has been increasing among “young people” (defined as under-20s). Under-20s now make up 18% of people accessing primary mental health services, up from 13% in 2015-16. These numbers include extended GP consults and talk therapy sessions (which are separately funded by the Ministry of Health), but not standard GP consultations about mental health services.
The report found young people were facing “deteriorating” wait times for DHB mental health services. The Government has set targets that 80% of referred patients should be seen within 3 weeks and 95% within 8 weeks. These targets are largely being met for adults, as well as for Māori and Pacific populations. However, DHBs are well below target for young people, with only 65% of under-20s referred to mental health services getting a consultation within 3 weeks. 13% still could not get a consultation 8 weeks after they were referred.
Prescriptions of psychiatric medications have also increased significantly for young people, with under-20s getting prescribed 21% more antidepressants and 18% more antipsychotics over 2020-21, compared to 2019-20. The report blamed this on “increased stress from Covid-19 and a lack of non-medical treatment alternatives”.
The way to fix this, suggested the report, would be more money spent on “increased investment in peer support services… specialist child-and-adolescent services, and other community-specialist services,” so they could speed up the rollout of “other support options” for youth who would otherwise rely on meds or an overtaxed DHB mental health system.
The report was hopeful that, over time, Government “investment… will provide early intervention and support for mental health and addiction needs – with downstream benefits for specialist services that continue to feel pressured in meeting the volume of need.”