Mental Health Monitoring System

Question: Discuss about the Mental Health Monitoring System. Answer: Introduction: Suicide is a growing concern in Australia, New South Wales (NSW) being one of the most affected regions and the matter is worse among the youth. The report on the causes of death, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), reflects a staggering 394 deaths due to intentional self- harm among the youth between the age of 15 and 24, out of which deaths in NSW amounts to 96 (ABS, 2016). The NSW Suicide Prevention Strategy of the NSW Health Department is also unable in curbing the rate of suicide in NSW. The reason for suicide includes a variety of causes including unemployment, substance abuse, depression and many others. Indigenous Youth Suicides among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have remained consistent and have increased over the years. The indigenous population of Australia is subject to physical and social isolation, which complicates the process of reaching out to the sufferer. The indigenous communities settle in the rural and remote part of Australia, and do not avail the community and outpatient mental health services and the population is subject to substance abuse, depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which makes the indigenous community prone to suicidal tendencies. headspace headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation that promotes the well-being of youth in Australia and provides services related to mental health to users in the age group of 12 to 25 years. The centres of the organization are located all over Australia and carries out a number of welfare and awareness programs to educate the population of Australia about the importance of mental health. headspace operates at a low or no charge. The organization provides an online and telephone service, named eheadspace that offers remote services to locations that does not have a headspace centre. The organization operates a School Support program to coordinate with school communities in responding to suicides. Issues in addressing the affected The assessment of mental health of an individual is a complex and time consuming process. The situation is worse in case of the youth. The psychology of an individual during adolescence is sensitive and young individuals often shut themselves emotionally to avoid interacting with the outside world. Change in consultants and treatment procedures compels the affected to repeat the condition, which aggravates the situation and the affected closes off without giving a chance to the treatment procedure. Centralized Information System - Capabilities The design of a centralized data repository to store data related to the youth and their mental health is essential and crucial for the administration of proper care to individuals affected by suicidal tendencies. The system will be composed of a database to support the backend and the front end will be composed of two parts: an online portal for the patients or the patient parties, to record the details of the illness themselves or the details will be communicated via telephone to the operators and the operators will record the details and a portal for professionals to note down observations. The data stored in the repository will be accessible to all professionals and new information reported by the patient or patient party will be added to the existing record. The system will be able to produce summarized information and reports based on the available data. The system will also be able to inform experts about cases they specialize in providing the experts with the trend of psychological disorder in the nation. The system will provide articles and information that will offer advices and recommendation about the primary concerns, symptoms to detect illness, patterns in heath issues and create awareness about the health concerns along with their mitigation procedures. Benefits of a centralised Information system A central repository containing data about every youth of the nation will prove beneficial on number of aspects. A centralised and accessible data repository will save the patient from repeating himself and the professionals will be able to study the case history of the patient along with the observation of other professionals. Professionals will be able to survey and study different cases before administering a particular treatment to a patient. The experts will be able to stay updated on the issues of their field. The report and information generation facility will be able to indicate and demarcate the issues and concerns based on region, culture, family history and many other aspects. Using the centralized system the Government will be able to identify national health concerns and uptake initiatives to address the issues and more importantly, the patients will be able to monitor and record incidents and progress of their health issues with ease. References Ahlberg, C., Wistrand, E., Thoresson, J., Truv, S., Weilenmann, K., Sparud, J. (2013).U.S. Patent Application No. 13/856,867. Australian Bureau of Statistics,. (2016).Underlying causes of death (Australia). Australian Bureau of Statistics,. (2016).Underlying causes of death (New South Wales). Cheung, Y. T. D., Spittal, M. J., Williamson, M. K., Tung, S. J., Pirkis, J. (2013). Application of scan statistics to detect suicide clusters in Australia.PloS one,8(1), e54168. Inquiry into Youth Suicide in the Northern Territory. (2011) (1st ed.). North Melbourne. Retrieved from https://www.nt.gov.au/lant/parliamentary-business/committees/ctc/youth-suicides/Submissions/Sub%20No.%2023,%20headspace,%207%20Oct%202011.pdf Krysinska, K., Batterham, P. J., Tye, M., Shand, F., Calear, A. L., Cockayne, N., Christensen, H. (2015). Best strategies for reducing the suicide rate in Australia.Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 0004867415620024. New ABS figures: youth suicide. (2016).Headspace.org.au. Retrieved 28 November 2016, from https://www.headspace.org.au/news/new-abs-figures-youth-suicide/ NSW Health Department,. (2016).Suicide in New South Wales. North Sydney: NSW Health Department. Wasserman, D. (Ed.). (2016).Suicide: an unnecessary death. Oxford University Press. Who we are. (2016).Headspace.org.au. Retrieved 28 November 2016, from https://www.headspace.org.au/about-us/who-we-are/