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Mental Health - A Community Responsibility (Howard Emanuel)Modern Australia currently has one of the highest incidences of mental health problems in the so-called developed world. Read More.... By Howard Emanuel - 5th October 2004 - Back to News
MENTAL HEALTH: A COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY!
Modern Australia currently has one of the highest incidences of mental health problems in the so-called developed world. For a nation of peoples that enjoy many social freedoms, have reasonable access to work, have relative levels of comfort and care, this statistic can be seen either as somewhat of an aberration on an otherwise fortuitous outlook, or more likely a reflection of a deeper and more complex social picture. For my liking, commentary on the underlying issues and the stimuli for this mass distress is often way too mute, sometimes even totally silent.
Mental health issues in Australia are now being talked about in terms of an epidemic with some commentators quoting a figure of one in five succumbing to the impacts of some mental health related condition. This picture of broad struggle even suffering is costing us enormously in terms of human potential, in terms of social stability and cohesion and in terms of public dollar expenditure.
We can continue to call for an increase in mental health facilities as some commentators have recently done and leave it at that, or we can adopt the view that whilst we would always welcome a system of care that is the best available to assist the mentally ill, we will also as a community, as a society face our demons and begin to expose the manifest reasons why we continue to succumb and suffer. It is ignorant; it is naive, it is indeed wrong to continue to deny the causes of our great angst.
If we adopt the view that the only way we can buttress ourselves against the current mental health epidemic is to increase facilities and services, many will go untreated, many will go uncared for. Because this epidemic, this tragedy has now become so virulent and has consumed so many lives that if we built a dozen new facilities, if we develop myriad new services, and leave it at that, this problem will continue to grow.
I see the current situation in mental health in this country as a seminal opportunity to learn more about ourselves, to admit to our weaknesses, to our wrongs, to the lack of merit in our current value system and to commit to change. To not rely on government to fix this most rudimentary human problem, but to accept that it is all of us that currently make up the canvas of contemporary Australian life and therefore it is the responsibility of all to accept that we contribute to the mental health epidemic in our midst, however inadvertently.
We can change the buildings, we can change the names of the services, we can change the policy, but if we do not change our values, if we do not recommit to community and family and turn our back on individualism, we will only become more and more unwell and more and more alone. Many more will suffer, many more of our children will fail to reach their full potential.
And I don’t see enough of a commitment to face this most difficult truth, this most tragic wrong, from our current batch of leaders, our current decision makers and our current representatives who seem spellbound only by their station and a need to appease the masses.
Thank you.
Howard Emanuel.
Independent Candidate for the Federal Seat of McMillan.
Convener: Rural Social Justice Movement
Tele/Fax: (03)5684 1561
Mobile: 0400 158 896
E-mail: howard@howardemanuel.com
Website: www.HowardEmanuel.com
"Bringing the People back into Policy!"
www.HowardEmanuel.com
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: kris@howardemanuel.com
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