James Khalid, Maffra
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A RECENT incident in Sale coming to the conclusion with the arrest of a young person highlights the huge mental health inequality faced by rural populations.
There is no excuse for this person’s behaviour, however, it could have been avoided had there been adequate mental health services readily available for rural towns.
Locals are struggling to find mental health professionals whose plates aren’t too full and have the capacity to pick up another patient.
There is a clear need for more mental health professionals in rural and remote areas, as suicide rates in rural populations are significantly higher than metropolitan populations with a rate of 40.4 cases per 100,000 and 31.8 per 100,000 for metropolitan populations.
Not only is the prevalence of mental health higher than metropolitan areas, but the number of mental health professionals is significantly lower.
According to the National Rural Health Alliance, there are 73 psychologists per 100,000 people in major cities and only 33 psychologists per 100,000 people in outer regional areas.
No one is to blame, yet outer regional and rural areas are in desperate need of more mental health professionals.
