Australian Youth services. They won't help you.
For the past year I have been living at a mental youth residence that caters towards young adults ageing from 16 to 23 who normally come from broken homes or no homes at all.
The idea behind this service is to rehabilitate mentally suffering teenagers and get them on the path of a home and job.
The problem with this brilliant idea is that no one is qualified. Every supervisor who walks through the door has never been educated on depression suicide or anxiety. They have been given spread sheets by higher ups on the following.
-meditation
-physical activity
-healthy diets
Yes these are important parts of a healthy mental state. But every person is different a caters towards something deeper than vegetables and jogging.
None of the staff know how to communicate with a resident who may be suicidal or self harming. This is not their fault But it is still a problem.
When a resident becomes over emotional or is experiencing an unstable mental state. Staff are educated to call the police or ambulance. There is no communication after said resident returns. There is no plan for the future.
The best I have seen come from a staff member is a safety plan. Which involves a small sheet of paper reccomending emergency call numbers and listening to music to calm yourself.
The lack of education towards mental health is not my biggest concern at this residence it actually comes from the lack of life skills.
Every resident who comes into this place walks out the exact same.
If you are homeless you leave homeless
If you have no job you leave with no job
If you are suicidal you leave suicidal
For the entire year of my stay I have been pushing for group activities to better the people who come after me.
-applying for rentals
-applying for jobs
-how to do taxes
-how to use centrelink
-how to read or do maths
-how to communicate to others with mental problems
-how to talk people out of suicide
-how to help someone having a panic attack
All of these suggestions have been denied.
Due to lack of education given to staff and compulsory spread sheets handed down by the higher ups.







