MENTAL health issues are on the rise, especially among men in rural and remote areas.
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An online briefing, Drugged and depressed: mental health in country Australia, by three experts raised some serious concerns about alcohol and mental health issues increasing in rural areas, especially due to remoteness.
The briefing heard the percentage of people with alcohol and mental health issues that are male increase with remoteness.
The figures are staggering – 75 per cent in NSW, 80 per cent in rural areas and 90 per cent in remote areas.
These are figures that health services and governments need to listen to and take notice of.
The briefing indicated there also seemed to be a disconnect between sufferers and the health services, often due to that remoteness.
Alcohol was still the substance that posed the biggest problem with many young men starting to drink around 15 and 16 years of age and the level of intoxication was higher, with people drinking to the point of vomiting and passing out.
Mental health is a question every community needs to tackle.
The stigma involved in mental health needs to be overcome.
Anyone can suffer mental illness.
It is not a sign of weakness but getting help can often be one of the hardest things.
Making that first step, admitting there is a problem and you need help is often the hardest.
National R U OK? Day is coming up on September 10.
Maybe it is a time for all of us in our community to ask that simple question of someone you think might be struggling.
Asking someone we know whether they are OK could make all the difference to someone who is struggling.
Equally important, it might just lead to a conversation all of us in regional Australia need to have with all levels of governments and amongst ourselves about what we need to do address mental health issues.
We have done it with the ice epidemic and have made significant progress. There is no reason we can’t do that with mental health as well.