Young people in rural areas typically deal with problems that are different from those in cities, such as not knowing what will happen with the economy, feeling alone, the effects of droughts or natural catastrophes, and having fewer places to have fun. These things can be bad for mental health. It's concerning because there is evidence that mental health outcomes for rural youth are poorer in a number of ways. For example, the rate of suicide among young men aged 15 to 24 in remote areas of Australia is 43 per 100,000, which is about twice as high as the rate in capital cities.
rrh.org.au rrh.org.au. Local principals say that anxiety and sadness are on the rise, and this is largely because there aren't many programs available and people in small villages are afraid to ask for help. In a long-term study of teens in rural New South Wales, Australia, around 30% of them had serious depression symptoms at some point. School officials often mention self-harm and bullying as major problems. Lack of Services and Counselors: It's ironic that mental health care is harder to get outside of cities, even if there is a lot of need for it. A lot of regional high schools share a counselor who moves between schools, or they only see a district mental health worker every now and again. In 2020, the NSW Government took action to fix this by hiring more counselors and giving every public high school a Student Support Officer (youth worker). This has helped, but there are still problems. Rural schools are having trouble finding psychologists to work there, which is why they have come up with imaginative solutions like tele-counseling and fly-in services. The SCAT-RRS program in New South Wales (School Counseling and Telepsychology for Rural/Remote Schools) now lets remote kids talk to licensed psychologists over video chats when there aren't any staff members present on site. Partnerships with nonprofits like Black Dog Institute and headspace have also introduced customized programs to rural schools to look for hidden mental health problems and offer courses. Things that get in the way of health: Even when things are getting better, there are still structural hurdles. Distance is a huge problem. A kid with serious mental health issues who lives in a community might have to travel 100 kilometers to get to the nearest headspace clinic or child doctor. Transportation and privacy difficulties (everyone knows everyone in a small town) can make it hard for young people to get aid. There aren't enough specialized services either. For example, a city kid who has trouble studying might be able to get help from a variety of sources (therapists, tutors), but a similar student in the far west might not have many local options. These gaps can make unfairness worse: mental health problems that aren't handled can make it hard for kids to go to school and do well in school. Experts in education say that improving the performance of rural students would involve putting as much money into their health as their academics. This means hiring more school counselors, giving instructors mental health training, and making youth services more available in regional NSW. No matter where they live, every student should feel safe and supported at school.