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When Carly Richardson’s mental health hit a crisis point, she tried to seek help. She asked her community mental health team for more intensive therapy, but was told the resources weren’t available. She was then sent to hospital after she self-harmed, but was discharged after little more than a week, despite telling staff what she was planning.
Before she’d arrived home, she attempted to end her own life.
“I was on the train tracks,” the now 21-year-old said of the incident 18 months ago. In a state of distress, she said police pulled her away and bent back her wrists to move her forward, with a level of pressure that left bruises.
“I was crying from the pain and they didn’t seem at all fazed,” she said. “It was really triggering because I’d been trying to tell myself that the world is a safe place, but it’s so weird when you’re met with responses like that when you’re suffering.
“I felt like a criminal just for being unwell. It was really dehumanising. I didn’t feel like a person anymore – I just felt like an animal.”
Richardson’s story is not in isolation. Last week, 21 prominent mental health and justice organisations released a joint statement calling for systemwide reform, including the implementation of a health-led response to mental health emergencies, with police deployed only when the safety of health workers is at risk. This change is supported by a major 2024 inquiry, cross-bench agreement and the NSW Police.
“Mental crises aren’t a crime,” said BEING Mental Health Consumers chief executive Giancarlo de Vera, who led the statement.
De Vera pointed to the 52 people in mental health crisis who were killed by police in the five years to 2023, and the variable risk of police escalating a situation, rather than providing support.
When a motion on the subject was raised in NSW parliament last Wednesday, Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said reform around police first responders remained a “key priority” for the government, but she acknowledged it was “taking time”. In a statement, she said consultations were still ongoing “and we will have more to say soon”.
De Vera said the government had “wasted their term” with talk and sentiments: “You can pave the road with good intentions, but until we see action, nothing’s going to get better.”
Mental health measures announced in the NSW budget did not truly represent a new funding boost, de Vera said, with $108 million of the $112 million promised a re-announcement of previous commitments.
Key to the joint statement – which was also signed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the college of psychiatrists, law organisations and People with Disability Australia – was a request for the public release of a government-commissioned gap analysis report, which is expected to highlight the funding and staffing gap in each local health district, to allow for better resourcing.
Jackson denied the report was being withheld and said that initial research had been released in collaboration with the Mental Health Alliance over an extended period: “It’s not fair to characterise it as though there’s a document sitting there that hasn’t been released,” as the approval process to make the data publicly available was ongoing.
De Vera said previous releases were “piecemeal updates” and said “the government needs to lay out the full facts so we can get on with the urgent work of fixing the system and saving lives”.
The release of a detailed analysis will assist the health coalition’s call for appropriate funding of mental health services in NSW, de Vera said.
Dr Pramudie Gunaratne, CEO of the Australian Society of Psychiatrists, said the system was “not functioning”.
She said demand for mental health support in NSW emergency departments was at “an all-time high, whereas resourcing seems to be dwindling”.
Gunaratne said community mental health services were “like a desert”, with people unable to access the therapy they needed, leading them to resort to ED admission.
“Something has to change,” she said. “We would never accept this level of under-resourcing for any other part of our health system.”
While Richardson has now found trauma-focused therapy helpful, she said her previous crisis could have been prevented through better access to quality care. She remembered feeling as though she was “hitting a wall” as she oscillated between being turned away for not having a serious enough presentation, and then later being sectioned when her health deteriorated.
“A lot of the times that I have become really unwell, it’s not out of isolation,” Richardson said. “I have tried to get more help, and the resources just aren’t there because the system’s designed in a way where it can only really respond to you once you’re at a breaking point. It’s traumatising.
“You’re either treated like you’re not suffering enough or you’re crazy – there’s no in between.”
Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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