Media release – CEO of Rural Health Tasmania Robert Waterman, 26 April 2021
“TASMANIA’S YOUTH SUICIDE RATES DEVASTATING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES”
CEO of Rural Health Tasmania Robert Waterman said today that he is deeply saddened and horrified by the current number of young people completing suicide in Tasmania.
Mr. Waterman said that the number of people who have completed suicide in Tasmania has increased by approximately 50% from 78 in 2018 to 108 in 2019 https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/deaths-by-suicide-in-australia/suicide-deaths-by-state-territories.
Mr. Waterman said that there also seems to be a focus on reporting the age standardised rates which consistently reports on 45-49-year olds and people aged over 85 as those most at risk but there is a serious issue that is being almost completely overlooked and, in some circumstances, obscured within other data and that is the number of young people completing suicide Mr. Waterman said.
Families and local communities are being devastated by the number of young people currently attempting and completing suicide in Tasmania. Mr. Waterman said 17 per 100,000 males aged 15-19 years old and 7.2 per 100,000 females aged 15-19 year old’s were completing suicide according to the National AIHW data. That’s 24.2 per 100,000 15-19 years. Mr. Waterman said that the age standardised rate for people who completed suicide in 2018 was 14.5 per 100,000 compared to 19.5 per 100,000 in 2019 in Tasmania.
Mr. Waterman said that 15 to 19-year-old females were more likely to be hospitalised for attempted self-harm than any other age group. In 2018/19 4032 15-19-year-old girls were hospitalised for attempted self-harm nationally and Tasmania had the highest number of hospitalisations per population for intentional self-harm of any state, second only to the Northern Territory.
Mr. Waterman said that for every 10 people aged 45-49 years old that complete suicide, approximately six 15-19-year old’s males’ complete suicide. It is even worse for young females with 15-19-year-old girls now being more likely to complete suicide than 20-34-year-old females and they are equally as likely to complete suicide as 35-39-year-old females according to the national AIHW data.
Mr. Waterman said he understands and empathises that this may be very upsetting for some people to read but we must do more.
“When Tasmania has an increase of around 50% in rates of suicide within a year and now has the highest rate of suicide per population of any state second only to the Northern Territory, there is something very, very wrong with our suicide prevention strategies.”
Mr. Waterman said he feels it is appropriate and now is the time for an independent inquiry into the efficacy our suicide prevention strategies particularly for young people and when about half of all individuals who complete suicide did not have contact with a mental health service in the preceding 12 months.
“This tells me that we need to do a lot more to destigmatise mental illness and it is absolutely essential that we don’t just wait for people to access mental health services. We must find better ways to reach out into the community and to those individuals who are suffering with a mental illness that are not accessing mental health services and are at risk of suicide.”
Mr. Waterman said he feels it is neglectful to our young people and adults and ignorant to think that just because state and commonwealth governments provide funding for mental health services, that people at risk of suicide will access them.
“As human beings we have an obligation and duty of care to each other, even more so for our young people. We can no longer accept an outdated ideology that if people need help, that we can wait for then to come to us. We must do better,” Mr. Waterman said. Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–24 (AIHW) and bullying is one of the leading causes of suicidal ideation in young people.
“That being said, I fully support an independent inquiry into our state’s mental health services particularly availability of services and suicide prevention strategies. Suicide is preventable and we are losing far too many young lives,” Mr. Waterman said.
For crisis support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. If you are struggling, feeling alone or fearful for the future you can also call A Tasmanian Lifeline on 1800 98 44 34 between 8am and 8pm, seven days.
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