Francesca Rudkin: Can we stop playing politics with youth mental health?

If you care about the mental health of our young people, if you are a parent of a child who is struggling or advocating to get your child or young adult diagnosed and treated, the last thing you want to hear in the news is more gotcha moments around the I Am Hope charity - and politicians reacting to it.   As someone who has first-hand experience of how overwhelmed our mental health system is, and how long and hard parents must fight and wait for the life changing and often life-saving treatment our children and adolescents need, there is nothing appealing about politicising the issue.   This is not the time for grandstanding. This is not the time for the opposition to count hits against the coalition Government; and this is not the time for the Government to sweep their decision-making under the carpet.   These are children’s lives we are talking about. This is families in distress and disarray. Please, can we do away with the sound bites and headlines and get on with the job? The Prime Minister was right when he said this week: “Do not play politics with youth mental health”. He said this in response to calls for his Government to review funding for Mike King’s mental health charity I Am Hope, in the wake of an ill-considered and out-of-context comment King made about alcohol being a short-term fix for those going through a rough period with their mental health.   But when you grant one charity $24 million over 4 years - more than the whole contestable Mental Health Innovation Fund promised by National - then I am sorry Prime Minister, but you have opened this issue up for scrutiny.   At the beginning of October, the Auditor General raised concerns about the process in which the Ministry of Health allocated the funding, “without an open, transparent, and competitive procurement process”. The ministry took the hit, but the push to do what they did came from the Government.  So it is on the Ministry and the Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey to assure this investment is achieving the performance measures set in place. That it is helping make a difference to the stretched public service by providing support for young people in distress.   And if it is not, to do something about it.   As for Gumboot Friday and I am Hope - forget the commentary and the politicking and get on with what you are so determined to do. Improve the mental health of our young people.  We all need this to work, and we all will benefit when it does. So I strongly suggest everyone stick to their own lanes and get on with it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.