Information: Is counselling enough to help young offenders with mental health issues?

Often, those suffering a mental health issue are not known about until that issue brings them to the attention of the police and court system. Once that happens, is counselling enough to get them back to where they need to be?

A ‘typical’ client

A typical client could be a disengaged youth, living on the streets, with minimal education and no work skills. Or it could be a stable young person living at home with both parents, educated and seemingly on track for steady employment. It could be someone newly arrived in Australia, separated from family and community with limited English, or it could be a young Aboriginal person living with extended family.

Mental health doesn’t discriminate. Our staff work with young people from all walks of life.

With such a wide range of clients, what provision is there to support these young people? What is available to help them back onto the correct path, away from a life of offending and crime? Is it working and is it enough?

Links Court

Outcare’s Links Mental Health Support Program is open to any young person who is appearing in the Perth Children’s Court where concerns have been identified for their mental health.

Working with a peer worker, clients create a plan based on their own individual circumstances and needs. Although each client is different, there is one surprising barrier that seems to be universal to all: a lack of a sense of community, of belonging.

As society becomes increasingly individualised we rely upon each other less and less. Young people are moving away from physical communities to an online world that can cut them off in an instant. They lack a sense of belonging, a sense that they are needed and relied upon, that they have value to add to their community.

Seeking long term benefits

For staff on the Links Program it quickly became evident that referring clients to counselling for a few hours each week was not going to be enough. Although counselling is highly beneficial, what the person does with the rest of their week was proving to be just as important and could have a much greater impact on their recovery long term.

By investigating the core patterns of our clients, a picture began to emerge of young people with a low sense of community often combined with a real lack of anyone they could rely upon. For some this was in their immediate family but for many it was much wider than that. They had a sense that there was no one in the wider community or wider world that they could rely upon, meaning that clients carried with them a sense of detachment and low self-worth.

A vital element of the role of case worker for the Links Program is, therefore, to help clients establish links with community groups. These can be cultural groups, sports groups, recreational clubs and youth programs, they can be structured or unstructured, designed to get them back into education or work ready, or they can be purely based upon hobbies and interests. Whatever the group, the key element is to connect the young people with their community, to help them to establish links and relationships, and to develop a sense of belonging and value.

For some clients, we see incredible increases in self-worth and belief after just a few activities. For others, it takes a bit longer.

What does the future hold?

Despite the successes of early intervention programs such as this, there is suggestion of a change in funding, moving away from diversionary programs and focusing instead on more ‘high risk’ groups.

At what point then will young people like these come to the attention of someone who is able to help them? How far into the cycle of reoffending and poor mental health will they have to travel before they are eligible for support? And will it be in time?

Helping people with issues today is foremost in our Vision and Values. Providing the support to prevent people developing greater needs in the future is part of our innovative approach to providing even more effective and economic solutions to the needs of society.