Suic icidal thoughts st start young: The cri ritical need for r - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Suic icidal thoughts st start young: The cri ritical need for r famil ily su support and early in interventio ion Dr Samantha Batchelor Senior Researcher August 2017

Who are we? More than75% self-funded by the yourtown • Art Union, donations and corporate support Australia’s only free 24/7 helpline for children • and young people aged 5 – 25 years Phone, webchat or email • Any time, any reason • One off information or referral, ongoing • counselling and crisis Professional counsellors •

Outline of presentation Age of child ildren and young people contacti ting • Kid ids Help lpline about suic icide Children’s preferences for online vs phone • support Children’s experiences seeking and receiving • support

Two sources of data for this presentation: 1. 1. Records of contacts between Kid ids Help lpline counsellors and child ildren/young people 2. 2. Consultation with ith child ildren and young people with ith liv lived experience of suic icid ide

Data sou ource 1. 1. Kid ids Help elplin ine con ontacts 20 2012 12-2016 2016  59 053 counselling contacts related to suicide  12 493 were with children aged 5-14 years 1552 (12.4%) concerned for another  10 352 (82.9%) suicidal thoughts and fears  403 (3.2%) expressing an immediate intent  186 (1.5%) current attempt at time of contact  4293 (34.4%) first time contact  2638 (21.1%) occasional support  4845 (38.8%) ongoing support  85% female  Note: contacts  individuals

Data sou ource 2. 2. Con onsultation wit ith child ildren and yo young people le wit ith live ived ex experience of of suic icide 20 2015-2016 2016 472 respondents to an online survey   139 (29.4%) 14 years or younger 95 (68.3%) female  30 (21.6%) male  8 (5.8%) gender diverse or ‘other’  Papers available at https://www.yourtown.com.au/insights/advocacy

Age of children seeking support from Kids Helpline

Kids Helpline 2001-2016 Number of suicide-related contacts 16000 Suicidality is a growing 14000 concern for Kids Helpline. 12000 10000 Although there have been 8000 N 6000 ups and downs, we are 4000 seeing a clear trend of 2000 increasing contacts related 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 to suicide. In 2016, 16.9% of all counselling contacts were related to suicide

Kids Helpline 2001-2016 Suicide contacts aged 14 years or younger Many of these contacts are 3500 with children aged 14 or 3000 younger. 2500 2000 N 1500 Suicidality amongst this 1000 young age group is a 500 significant issue, but not a 0 new issue – we have been 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 responding to it for more than 15 years. In 2016, 27.6% of all suicide- related contacts were with children aged 14 or younger

Suicid icide e rate te by 5-year age ge gr group 16.0 Death from suicide is rare in children this age group and 12.0 Rate per 100,000 publicly available data on suicide rates gives the 8.0 impression of a sudden onset 4.0 of suicidality around 15 years of age. 0.0 0-14 yrs 15-19 yrs 20-24 yrs Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016). Causes of Death, Australia 2015. Cat. No. 3303.0. ABS:Canberra

KHL L con onta tacts s by by age ge 20 2012-2016 (first contacts only) But records of help-seeking to 2000 Kids Helpline show that children start contacting very N of young people 1500 young, with numbers rapidly increasing between the ages of eleven and fourteen. 1000 And we expect that for every 500 child who contacts us there are many more we don’t know 0 about. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Age

So my fir So first point is is sim simply ly th this: suic icidal l th thoughts can sta tart yo young • this this isn’t well -refle lected in in publi licly ly ava vaila lable data • (a (and I don’t believe it’s well known in the com ommunit ity) we e nee eed mor ore data ta about the the pre revale lence of of suic icid idal l • th thoughts and beh ehaviours in in child ildren

Are children receiving the support they need? Data fro from ou our co consult ltation

Did you re receive hel elp when you wer ere th thin inking ab about su suicide? Less than half the respondents to our Yes es No No consultation survey had received any kind of help. 14 and younger 26% 74% (n=138) Younger children were Age significantly less likely to have 15 – 19 received help than older 42% 58% (n=191) teens – only 26% had received any kind of help. (  2 (1,329)=9.313, p=.002)

If If yo young peo eople did id get et hel help, , who ho he help lped th them? The table shows the number and 14 and 14 and youn younger 15 15 - 19 19 percent of survey respondents Parents 20 (71%) 48 (74%) who had received help from each source. Friends 18 (67%) 51 (77%) The numbers for the 14 and School staff 16 (59%) 46 (71%) younger group are small because so few had received any help. Helpline* 11 (41%) 42 (64%) Nevertheless, there are some Family doctor* statistically significant 9 (33%) 41 (61%) differences. Psychologist/counsellor* 12 (43%) 51 (77%) For example, 61% of 15-19 year Psychiatrist* 8 (29%) 37 (56%) olds had talked to their family doctor, but only 33% of those 14 headspace* 8 (30%) 37 (56%) and under had talked to their Hospital* family doctor. 5 (19%) 31 (47%) * Statistically significant difference

In summary ….. Overall, younger children were less likely than older teens • to get any kind of help when thinking about suicide Parents and friends were the most common sources of • support for all age groups, and younger children were just as likely to talk to their parents as the older group But younger children were less likely than older teens to • get professional help, for example, from a family doctor, counsellor, psychologist or psychiatrist. WHY?

I thought the younger group Have ve yo you ev ever made de a su suici icide may have received less help plan or pl r atte ttempted su suicid icide? because they were experiencing less severe problems. Made a a Atte ttempte ted su suic icide pl plan suic su icide But from what they told us, that was not the case. 14 and younger 82% 54% (n=136) Children in the younger group Age were just as likely to have made a suicide plan or 15 – 19 80% 56% attempted suicide as those in (n=185) the older group.

Records of of con ontacts to to Kid ids Help lpli line al also o show tha that yo young ch child ldren ca can be e ex experiencing severe suic icidali lity In 2016, 57 individuals aged 14 or younger received a duty of • care intervention • Counsellors responded to an average of 2.3 contacts per week from a child 14 or younger expressing an immediate intent to suicide or engaged in an attempt at the time of contact

What made it it hard to to te tell ll someone?

Children told us why they don’t seek help ‘It has a stigma. “She's suicidal”. I'm a cis ‘ Every time I think of telling white girl in a good school, top class, nice someone, I immediately family. I have no reason to feel this way .’ think they will joke about it and say I'm lying and an attention seeker.’ ‘I was worried that no one would believe me’ ‘Me telling people how I feel will ‘At such a young age, I felt ashamed stress them out. I am also afraid I about feeling the way I did. I didn't will hurt others with my sadness. want to talk about it with my parents or I'm afraid of myself, I feel super friends. I didn’t think they would insecure, and telling others will just understand .’ spread the darkness .’

They al also o told told us tha that sometimes parents aren’t How hel helpful l were yo your ve very hel elpful parents? Very Fairly Not at all Of 116 young people who 6 8 6 14 and younger had sought help from a (n=20) 30% 40% 30% parent, 44% said the parent was ‘not at all’ helpful and 11 20 17 15 – 19 only 22% said the parent (n=48) 23% 42% 35% was ‘very helpful’. 25 40 51 All young people (n=116) 22% 35% 44%

Fri riends te tended to to be e more How hel helpful l were yo your help lpful l tha than pare arents frie riends? Of 117 young people who Very Fairly Not at all had sought help from a 10 7 1 14 and younger friend, only 14% said the (n=18) 56% 39% 6% friend was ‘not at all’ helpful, while 41% said the 17 27 7 15 – 19 friend was ‘very helpful’. (n=51) 33% 53% 14% 48 53 16 All young people (n=117) 41% 45% 14%

While it’s a good sign that friends are considered helpful, this is concerning, especially in the younger age group – when your friends are 12 or 13 years old, there is a limit to how much they can do. Children need the support of a trusted adult, both for it’s own sake and because accessing professional support requires adult input for a child.