NSW government urged to offer more support after suicide of Meg Thomas

Mental health practitioners claimed a 13-year-old girl who attempted suicide three times in the lead-up to her death had enough support already.

A local MP touched by the suicide of Leeton girl Meg Thomas has pleaded with the government to send more mental health resources to the country’s food bowl.

Yet Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has again declined to increase the number of school counsellors in NSW schools to levels the government has previously committed to.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Helen Dalton said the catastrophic error which preceded 13-year-old Meg’s suicide is a sign of how broken the system has become.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed how Meg’s first psychiatrist appointment was cancelled two days before she killed herself.

Despite Meg having made three suicide attempts in the month prior, mental health practitioners said she had enough support already.

Wayne and Gin Thomas with Meg.

In a harrowing twist, Meg’s mother Gin was then asked to rate the local mental health district’s service via phone call in the days following her daughter’s 2018 death.

Mrs Dalton said since Sunday she has received a flood of correspondence from people speaking out about the lack of mental health resources in the Murrumbidgee region, which has the second highest suicide rate in the state.

“What if Meg had that appointment? People never get over it. Families just grieve forever. And there’s just so many of them (suicides),” Mrs Dalton said.

“I want Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor and the government to assist in this epidemic. It’s unacceptable what’s happening.

“There’s not a lot of government money here.

“We need to counsellors in every school and we need to have a place for young people to go.

“Meg’s story was a wake up call about how the system needs to be improved.”

Meg Thomas was 13 when she suicided.

Meg Thomas was a talented netballer.

Mrs Thomas credited Meg’s school counsellor with not only alerting her to Meg’s first suicide attempt, but also with maintaining a strong relationship with her daughter.

She has called for more counsellors in NSW schools and more mental health services for rural and regional NSW.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Can We Talk campaign is calling for one counsellor for every 500 students across the state.

This figure was agreed to by the state government “in principle” but never adopted. The ratio is about 1:725 students.

Many counsellors are spread thin between numerous schools and are busy doing funding assessments for kids with ADHD and other conditions, minimising their time with distressed teens.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell.

Helen Dalton, the NSW Member for Murray.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell declined to comment when asked Tuesday if they would increase the number of school counsellors.

She’s previously said the NSW Government “recently hired an additional 350 student support officers so that by June 2023, every high school will have both a full-time school counsellor allocation and a full-time student support officer”.

Between 1 January to 31 July this year the number of suspected suicides dropped in Greater Sydney from 251 to 245 when compared to the same time last year, according to NSW Health.

In the rest of NSW, however, that figure has increased from 250 in 2020 to 274 in 2021.

Unpublished government suicide data suggests overall numbers of regional youth suicides may be dropping.

Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor said the NSW Government has significantly increased its investment in mental health since 2019/20, boosting the budget by $500 million from $2.1 billion to $2.6 billion.

“One third of the NSW Government’s mental health budget has typically gone to rural and regional parts of the state, however since 2019/20, half of the investment for new initiatives has gone to boost mental health support in regional NSW,” she said.

“The NSW Government is committed to ensuring the help is there where it’s needed, which means we continue to commit heavily to supporting our regions.

“Half of our priority Safeguard child and adolescent teams are rolling out to regional areas, as are all of our 57 Response and Recovery Coordinators, half of our School Wellbeing Nurses, all of Tresillian Family Care Centres, mobile services and residential unit as well as the majority of Suicide Prevention Community Collaboratives.”