"Half of all mental health problems begin before the age of 14 and our work has shown it begins as young as three or four or five years," she said.
She said there was not just a scarcity of psychologists, but also of child psychiatrists and paediatricians, which was putting immense pressure on the existing workforce. "At the end of the week, I would have 10 messages on my phone of parents crying saying, 'Can you please see my child?' And I could only do so much," she said.Former school principal Tammie Meehan was also seeing many more students in distress and unable to get support.
Kristie Miller says services such as the One Red Tree Resource Centre are vital for children in the regions. "We really need to think about solution … Medicare rebate or other rebates for families where there are no out-of-pocket costs, particularly in rural areas and in low-socio-economic-income families."