Alwyn Poole: The Mental Health of Our Children and Young People

It is to the shame of New Zealand’s adult community that news came out last week that in the last five years the number of anti-depressants issued to children and teens has increased by 53 per cent.

My memory of the mental health situation for children and young people five years ago was that it was not that things were utopian. It looks like the disappearing $1.9 billion for mental health is still on the way to being a solution.

Life is always difficult for someone, somewhere and every human being will have their share of that. Tragedies happen: sometimes deliberate or caused by the negligence of others, sometimes through sheer accident or illness. People get hurt in relationships or do the hurting.