Tom struggled with "usual teenage stuff", his mum Catriona Barnett says, but nothing out of the ordinary that she knew of.It's the absence of milestones her son will never reach that sting when she sees other young people growing up and enjoying their lives.The 2020 deaths came seven years after a 2013 inquest into the suicide deaths of three other teenagers.
They noted suicide and self-harm data was helping at a broad level, and was used by some government departments when making decisions about COVID-19 lockdowns. In 2014, the coroner recommended local community response plans be in place for when a youth suicide occurs. They also say headspace GPs can prescribe medication, but not all headspace clinics in regional and rural areas employ GPs.
Willow was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and autism as a teenager and had been in and out of psychiatric wards for years. She had been on medication and seen dozens of counsellors, but her mental health continued to decline.There was one psychiatrist she clicked with, Tara says, he understood Willow's autism and found ways to help her communicate, but then he left town and Willow darkened.
This "missing middle" was identified over and over again in Victoria's 2019 mental health royal commission. He's tired of gaping holes in the number of services available in rural and regional communities being filled with social interventions like sports programs because no-one is putting the money and effort towards professional, medical support.
The ones that are there are choked with waiting lists and reliant on workers who often realise they'll make more money and work fewer hours in the private sector in inner-metro suburbs.One service that's helped parents in the wake of teen suicide in Geelong is Hope Bereavement, a non-profit organisation of counsellors that are available to anyone who has lost someone to suicide for as long as they need.