Girls and regional kids increasingly presenting with self-harm

Over the past 10 years, the gap between regional and metropolitan young people who self-harm has steadily grown, with emergency department data from NSW finding young people in regional and remote areas are more likely to present to an emergency department for self-harm than those residing in major cities.

Orygen suicide prevention researcher Eleanor Bailey said there was no single explanation driving the increase in self-harm presentations in young people.

"For young people in rural areas, a major contributing factor is access to mental health services. We know that regional areas are under-resourced, meaning that often young people don't receive treatment when mental health problems first emerge and end up in ED as their first contact with the mental health system," she said.

"Self-harm is typically seen as a female issue and rates of self-harm are consistently shown to be much higher in young females than in young males."

Females were over-represented in the data. From ages 11 onwards, females are between two and four times more likely to present to an emergency department for self-harm than males.

Ms Bailey said social media use and rites of passaged missed during the COVID-19 pandemic are also impacting youth mental health.

Trends almost doubled during the pandemic, with suicide-related presentations by young people surging to 19.2 per cent per annum from March 2020 into 2021.

Royal Far West CEO Jacqueline Emery said the pandemic, rising cost of living and natural disasters had left regional kids isolated with limited access to mental health services.

"We currently have a crisis in rural and remote areas in terms of the health workforce," she said.

"During the pandemic a lot of people in regional areas had no homeschooling because there was either no connectivity, or one laptop shared between multiple children. The reports that we've heard from our teachers is that kids have fallen so much further behind.

"There is a sense of helplessness from families, because there's just no way to access support where they live."

A recent Senate report on school refusals recommended subsidised mental health care for students to address the "alarming rate" of low school attendance.

Regional kids are also struggling with climate anxiety and trauma from recent natural disasters.

"We've got children that we're working with that check BOM before going to school, and if it's going to rain they won't go. Even some parents are doing that," Ms Emery said.

"That sounds a bit wild, but when you think about what people went through in those terrible floods, parents were separated from their kids and that was an incredibly traumatic experience that people are still processing."

Data released in August confirmed that climate distress is taking a toll on the mental health of young people.

YouGov polling found that two-thirds of young Australians said climate concerns are having a negative impact on youth mental health, and 56 per cent reported increased concerns in the past year.

A spokesperson for Kidshelpline said they had seen a rise in counselling sessions relating to self-harm over the last five years.

"For parents, finding out that somebody you love and care about is self-harming can be shocking and scary. If a young person in your life is self-harming there are a number of things that you can do to support them," the spokesperson said.

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They advised seeking medical attention if needed, discussing it calmly and listening to what the young person has to say, while learning more about self-harm through online research, books, and articles which can provide information to support your family.

If you or anyone you know needs help, support is available now. Call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.