Recently, batyr celebrated our 10th birthday. Over the last decade, we have witnessed real momentum in many areas related to youth mental health. We have seen thousands of young people embrace vulnerability and go beyond the barriers of stigma to openly share their stories of mental ill-health to help others.
Communities have rallied together through bushfires, droughts, floods and a pandemic, engaging in mental health education to transform the way young people are supported in their communities. We have also seen the Australian government shine a spotlight on mental health through reports such as the Productivity Commission’s and Royal Commission’s inquiries into mental health.
Despite this progress, there is a long way to go. Suicide remains the leading cause of death for young people in Australia (ABS, 2020). If we zoom out to understand how this relates to the world around us, we know this is a global concern, as suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for adolescents worldwide (WHO, 2021). Considering the magnitude of this on a global scale, “on average, governments have allocated just 2% of their health budgets to mental health over the last five years” (GMHAN, 2022).
Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety in young people, in addition to “the loss of lives to suicide, come with a cost in lost human capital – a less healthy, less educated, less job secure generation – of approximately US$387 billion a year” (GMHAN, 2022). The stark disconnect between lives and human potential lost compared to what investment looks like is grave, but there is a significant role for government, philanthropy and corporations to play in addressing this differently.
In an effort to accelerate our progress, batyr’s Head of Global Impact, Stephanie Vasiliou has been co-chairing the 2022 Child and Youth Working Group of the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN). With over 2,200 members, GMHAN facilitates pathways for knowledge sharing all over the world and enables collaborations to create greater impact together. Joining forces with GMHAN, United for Global Mental Health, Unicef, Orygen, and the Coalition Action For Preventive Mental Health Kenya, we were pleased to have co-authored a critical piece highlighting investment in child and adolescent mental health and its importance in the global mental health agenda: BRIEFING: Financing Child, Adolescent and Young People’s Mental Health.
As highlighted in the Briefing, “the opportunity exists to not only increase investment in children, adolescents and young people’s mental health, but to redirect and improve the access, quality and efficacy of that investment.”
Stephanie Vasiliou adds, “The mental health system has traditionally been built and funded in a way that makes it impossible to keep up with demand for crisis services, exacerbating levels of mental ill-health for young people. Stigma remains, wait lists for services are long, mental health workforce shortages are high, and young people, carers and communities are paying for this. Greater financial support is required, however re-evaluating funding approaches, and shifting from putting out fires, to a model that supports longer-term prevention so there are less fires to start with is critical. It might not feel like a quick win, but we cannot keep doing the same thing expecting a different result.”
batyr is grateful for the support we have received over the years from government, philanthropists, corporations and individuals in local communities raising funds to support batyr’s preventive and community based approach. This includes the recent announcement from the Australian Government of $5.5m for a range of program delivery for areas of need.
We are hopeful that we can continue to work closely with supporters to enhance investment into prevention, communities and advocacy efforts and embrace the idea that the earlier we reach young people, the greater the ripple effects we will see. Recommendations on what needs to occur are highlighted in the Briefing. This includes ensuring young people’s real experiences are taken into account when making investment decisions. Having reached over 330,000 young people through our programs, batyr looks forward to strengthening pathways between funders and young people, so we can start to see real shifts that make the differences needed not just in Australia, but around the world. You can find the report here.
For more information you can reach out to:
Stephanie Vasiliou, Head of Global Impact stephanie@batyr.com.au
To learn more about becoming a GMHAN member (for free) you can go here.