Young woman’s mental health decline: ‘Doors had to stay open for her safety’

Ursula Lodding, now 21, started contemplating suicide when she was 16 after getting bullied at school in Griffith. When her mum was told not to leave her daughter alone, he went to extreme measures to help her.

No door was ever left closed in the Lodding home. The risk of self harm or suicide was just too great.

Ursula Lodding, now 21, started contemplating suicide around age 16 when she was getting bullied at her local state high school in Griffith.

The budding nail therapist claims the problems got so bad she did not leave the house, let alone go to school, for more than six months at a time.

“When all this started happening I was told not to leave Ursula by herself,” Ursula’s mother, Melanie, said.

“The doors in the house had to remain open for her safety. She did not get the ­opportunity to do anything. That went on for about 12 months.

“I could not sleep or eat, I was a mess. When I had to use the bathroom or shower I was asking her to come with me.

“I did not want to leave ­Ursula alone at all.”

Griffith's Ursula Lodding, 21, pictured with her mum Melanie, has been dealing with mental health issues brought on by bullying.

Ursula said she was unable to access the school counsellor at her local state school because the counsellor “was too busy”.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Can We Talk campaign is calling for one counsellor for every 500 students in the state. This figure was agreed to by the state government “in principle” but never adopted. The ratio is about 1:725 students.

Ursula has been diagnosed with major depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder.

She also said that while she’s thankful youth mental health service headspace opened in 2016, there has been significant staff turnover.

“Headspace was pretty bad because I changed to a new counsellor almost every time I went in,” Ursula said.

“They just do not have any counsellors staying there long term.

“We need to have better counsellors in the area and perhaps a mental health unit.”

ABS data released this week confirmed the number of suicide deaths in 2020 was 3139, 5.4 per cent lower than the number of suicide deaths in 2019 (3318).

However, Black Dog Institute chief scientist professor Helen Christensen said “the number of young people in distress, and particularly young women presenting to hospital for self-harm related injury, continues to be a concern”.

“Young people have been disproportionately impacted by many of the pandemic’s negative consequences, with declining mental health outcomes reported well before Covid-19 began,” she said.

“We must urgently investigate why suicidal ideation and attempts are rising among young women, and implement wide-scale and evidence-based early intervention and prevention programs to address this tragic issue.”

The rate of hospitalisation due to intentional self-harm 3.8 times higher for 15-19-year-old women (686 per 100,000) than young men (180 per 100,000).

headspace CEO Jason Trethowan the national mental health workforce shortage is “more pronounced in rural, regional and remote parts of Australia”.

“Where there are staff shortages at a local headspace centre, those headspace centres work closely with their community to seek to ensure that young people have access to appropriate care pathways and services, so that we can continue to support the health and wellbeing of young people,” he said.

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