Mental Health One of the Top Three Concerns of Australian Nation According to Youth, Survey

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A new survey has given voice to young people in Australia to shed light on mental health, a top crucial issue facing Australia. Almost 22,000 teenagers from 15 to 19 were added in the survey and more than 20% of them mentioned mental health as one of three top issues facing Australian population.

The other two issues were alcohol and drugs, equity and discrimination.

The chief executive of Mission Australia Survey, Catherine Yeomans, revealed that in the past 15 years' history of the Survey, mental health is at the highest level of concern, ABC.Net reported.

Young teenager Savannah van der Veer is not surprised by the survey findings as she is one of those teenagers who has struggled to manage obsessive-compulsive disorder for more than 10 years.

Savannah says that people just ignore what happens to the children and say that children are unusual and moody. Children's sufferings are not taken seriously but people rather act strangely that does not make any sense.

But Savannah really suffered and did not know how to put her feelings into words and could not judge either that her condition is not normal.

In Australia the disability burden is caused by three major causes and mental illnesses are one of them. Almost 27 percent of the total life of a person is lost due to disability, Mind Frame reported.

Catherine says if the youth that mental illness is one of the three top concerns of Australian nation; it is the time that the responsible authorities pay attention and make sure that a proper response is available for this concern.

Young Savannah van der Veer maintained that she turned to counselors and her mother for help.

Associations are active in making it possible for the youth to come over the mental issues they are facing. A similar effort is made by a youth mental health group batyr. The group held more than 150 workshops all around Australian High Schools in the year 2015.

The chief executive of the group said that they are trying to encourage youth to talk about their tough times and share it with the group because they are not alone but there are many other like them.

The sessions of workshop integrate healthy activities that soothe the mind and soul and shift the negative sense of shame about mental health issues.

Mission Australia Survey found that girls are more likely to consider mental health issues broad-mindedly and consider them a national issue. Young men rather think international relations as one of the major issues nation facing.

A young Australian Lachlan Hodson of 16 said that men are less likely than women to talk about their mental health. They rather tone it down which is even more damaging to their mental health.