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Teachers are beautifully positioned to see changes in how kids are doing .
‘ Invisible crisis ’
Children ’ s human rights violated by poor access to mental health support .
By Conor Burke
Over half of children with mental health disorders have trouble accessing the medical help they need , according to new research .
Canadian researchers have found that one in eight children suffer from a mental health disorder and only 44.2 per cent of those children have access to help , and the problem is worse in higher income countries .
“ We have illuminated an invisible crisis in children ’ s mental health and unacceptable service shortfalls in high-income countries – including in Canada – to a degree that violates children ’ s rights ,” said study author Charlotte Waddell .
“ We simply don ’ t put enough funding and basic services out there for children ’ s mental health .
“ We put it out there for child physical health . Certainly in Canada , any child coming in with a fairly serious problem like cancer or diabetes or an infection , they ’ re going to get treated promptly . We simply don ’ t fund that level of service provision [ for mental health ],” Waddell , a health sciences professor at Simon Fraser University , told Education Review .
The study looked at 14 prevalence surveys conducted in 11 high-income countries that included a total of 61,545 children aged four to 18 years . The 14 surveys were conducted between 2003 and 2020 in Canada as well as the US , Australia , Chile , Denmark , Great Britain , Israel , Lithuania , Norway , South Korea and Taiwan .
While Waddell believes 12.7 per cent is a robust number , she believes it is likely an underestimate . She says that the children represented in the figure are “ severely affected ” with symptoms bad enough that they cannot function at school or at home , and some children with lesser symptoms may go unnoticed .
And with the added stressors that the pandemic has brought , Waddell expects that figure to rise .
“ The 12.7 per cent is likely an underestimate ,” she says . “ In this era of the pandemic people who were already socioeconomically disadvantaged have been further disadvantaged . So , these are pre-COVID data , that ’ s important to know as well . It gives you a benchmark . We should all be going and doing surveys now .”
On top of funding issues , Waddell says that the stigma surrounding mental health still prohibits many people getting timely help .
“ I ’ m a child and adolescent psychiatrist . I encounter lots of people who just don ’ t believe that these problems exist for children . They may not even believe they exist for adults ,” she says .
“ These conditions , if someone has felt bad anxiety or depression , or even something like psychosis , it may not be that evident until things really deteriorate . So there ’ s still a lot of people probably that don ’ t see this as a problem , because they just simply are unaware until it happens to their child or their sister or their friend . And then they learn .”
Although the numbers are high , Waddell says that one positive is that psychologists know how to effectively treat many mental health issues that children face , but funding is key to getting those interventions in place .
Waddell also says that Australia is ahead of the pack when it comes to addressing children ’ s mental health .
“ I have been very impressed to learn over the years , for example , that there ’ s been a lot of active interest in improving children ’ s mental health . You ’ ve taken an interest as a country in prevention programmes ... I think you ’ re world leaders looking at prevention of things like anxiety disorders , which are the most common .
“ Really fantastic programmes , like the Friends programme in schools prevents anxiety . So there ’ s been a bigger interest in leadership , and you ’ ve also done large surveys and shown improved access to services over 10 or 15 years in Australia . We haven ’ t done that in Canada .”
And she says that teachers are well placed to spot children with mental health disorders and help advocate on their behalf .
“ The teachers that I ’ m aware of , the good ones , really know the kids well , and they know a lot about the home situation . They know a lot about the community situation and they care very deeply . So teachers are beautifully positioned to see changes in how kids are doing over time ,” she says .
“ They ’ re beautifully positioned to just check in ... Teachers can then be powerful advocates to get mental health services for kids or to get social services .” ■
6 | educationreview . com . au