{
  "compiledAt": "2026-08-24T13:51:00Z",
  "disclaimer": "Public compilation, not diagnosis or advice.",
  "ageScope": "0-24 Australia",
  "portalNote": "Informational only. No personal data is collected. This is not a clinical service, not a case-management service, and does not replace 000, a GP, or local health / child-protection services. Figures are copied from named public sources; none are invented. Age bands differ by survey: there is no single national diagnostic prevalence series covering 0–24 as one group.",
  "prevalence": [
    {
      "claim": "No national diagnostic prevalence survey currently covers infants and children aged 0–3. The youngest national diagnostic series starts at age 4 (Young Minds Matter, 2013–14). Do not treat adult or 16–24 rates as applying to early childhood.",
      "figure": "No national 12-month diagnostic prevalence published for ages 0–3",
      "year": "as at 2026 compile",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/prevalence-of-mental-disorders/",
      "sourceTitle": "Young Minds Matter — Prevalence of mental disorders (Telethon Kids Institute; Australian Government-funded 2013–14 survey)"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Among children and adolescents aged 4–17 years, almost one in seven met DSM-IV criteria for a mental disorder in the 12 months before interview. This remains the last national child diagnostic survey; it is more than a decade old and should not be treated as a 2024–26 rate.",
      "figure": "13.9% (about 560,000 children and adolescents at the time of the survey)",
      "year": "2013–14",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/prevalence-of-mental-disorders/",
      "sourceTitle": "Young Minds Matter — the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing"
    },
    {
      "claim": "In 4–17 year-olds, males had higher 12-month disorder prevalence than females. Age-split figures were published by sex, not as a combined 4–11 or 12–17 persons rate on the source page used here.",
      "figure": "Males 16.3%; females 11.5%. By age: males 16.5% (4–11) and 15.9% (12–17); females 10.6% (4–11) and 12.8% (12–17)",
      "year": "2013–14",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/prevalence-of-mental-disorders/",
      "sourceTitle": "Young Minds Matter — Prevalence of mental disorders"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Most common 12-month disorders among 4–17 year-olds were ADHD, then anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and conduct disorder. Almost one third of those with a disorder had two or more disorders.",
      "figure": "ADHD 7.4%; anxiety disorders 6.9%; major depressive disorder 2.8%; conduct disorder 2.1%; 30.0% of those with a disorder had two or more (4.2% of all 4–17 year-olds)",
      "year": "2013–14",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/prevalence-of-mental-disorders/",
      "sourceTitle": "Young Minds Matter — Prevalence of mental disorders"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Unmet need among 4–17 year-olds with a mental disorder: just over half had used any service for emotional or behavioural problems in the previous 12 months, so a large minority had not. Specialist CAMHS use was rare. Service use was lower for 4–11 than for 12–17.",
      "figure": "56.0% of 4–17 year-olds with a mental disorder used services (48.9% of 4–11; 65.1% of 12–17). Specialist CAMHS used by 3.3% of those with a disorder. 41.2% of mild, 72.5% of moderate and 87.6% of severe disorders used services.",
      "year": "2013–14",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/service-use/",
      "sourceTitle": "Young Minds Matter — Service use (Johnson et al., ANZJP)"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Among people aged 16–24 years, almost two in five had a 12-month mental disorder. This is the highest age-specific rate in the national adult diagnostic survey. Around 1.1 million young adults were estimated to be affected. This is not a 12–17 or 0–12 figure.",
      "figure": "38.8% (about 1.1 million people aged 16–24); females 45.5%; males 32.4%",
      "year": "2020–2022",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "sourceTitle": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Anxiety disorders were the most common 12-month group among 16–24 year-olds, followed by affective (mood) disorders and substance-use disorders.",
      "figure": "Any 12-month anxiety disorder: 31.8% of 16–24 year-olds (females 40.4%; males 24.4%). Any 12-month affective disorder: 13.5% (females 16.7%; males 10.4%). Any 12-month substance-use disorder: 7.8% (males 9.9%; females 5.2%).",
      "year": "2020–2022",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "sourceTitle": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The 16–24 rate rose compared with the previous comparable national survey. AIHW’s Australia’s health 2026 restates this as a rise from 26% to 39%. The ABS 2007 persons rate commonly cited is 26%; Life in Mind restates 25.8% for 16–24 in 2007. Treat 26% and 25.8% as the same survey generation, rounded differently.",
      "figure": "12-month mental disorder among 16–24: about 26% (2007) to 38.8% (2020–2022). AIHW 2026 key findings: 26% to 39%.",
      "year": "2007 compared with 2020–2022; restated 2026",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2026/contents/key-findings",
      "sourceTitle": "AIHW Australia’s health 2026, Key findings (citing ABS NSMHW)"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Unmet need among people with a 12-month mental disorder (all ages 16–85; 16–34 is the closest published youth band for service use): fewer than half saw a health professional for mental health in the previous 12 months.",
      "figure": "45.1% of people aged 16–85 with a 12-month mental disorder saw a health professional for mental health (females 51.1%; males 36.4%). For 16–34 with a 12-month disorder, 46.2% had at least one consultation.",
      "year": "2020–2022",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "sourceTitle": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Self-harm in the previous 12 months was highest in the youngest adult age group. Lifetime self-harm among young females was particularly high. Self-harm and suicide are distinct; the ABS notes some people who self-harm are at increased suicide risk.",
      "figure": "12-month self-harm: 6.0% of 16–24 year-olds (females 8.7%; males 3.3%). Lifetime self-harm among females aged 16–24: 27.9%.",
      "year": "2020–2022",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "sourceTitle": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022"
    },
    {
      "claim": "LGBTIQ+ adults had much higher 12-month disorder rates than heterosexual and cisgender peers. These are all-ages 16–85 figures, not 0–24-specific, but they are the official national diagnostic estimates.",
      "figure": "12-month mental disorder: 58.7% of people who described sexual orientation as gay, lesbian, bisexual or a different term, versus 19.9% heterosexual. Transgender people 33.1% versus cisgender 21.3%.",
      "year": "2020–2022",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "sourceTitle": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022"
    },
    {
      "claim": "NSW 12-month mental-disorder prevalence for people aged 16–85 (not youth-specific; the NSMHW sample is not designed for reliable youth-by-state estimates).",
      "figure": "19.5% of NSW residents aged 16–85 had a 12-month mental disorder (1.2 million of 6.3 million). National 21.5%.",
      "year": "2020–2022",
      "geo": "NSW",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "sourceTitle": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022 — New South Wales"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–24. The proportion of all deaths that are suicide is high in these ages mainly because other causes of death are uncommon. 2022–23 figures are preliminary and subject to ABS revision.",
      "figure": "In 2023: 298 deaths by suicide among 18–24 year-olds; 94 among people aged 17 and below (71.3% of those were aged 15–17). Suicide was 31.8% of all deaths at 15–17 and 33.1% at 18–24. Rate: 12.6 per 100,000 at 18–24; 6.9 at 15–17; 0.6 at 14 and below.",
      "year": "2023 (preliminary)",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/populations-age-groups/suicide-among-young-people",
      "sourceTitle": "AIHW Suicide and intentional self-harm monitoring — Suicide among young people"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Child maltreatment is common and strongly associated with later mental disorder. Young people aged 16–24 in the ACMS reported high childhood exposure, including to domestic violence.",
      "figure": "Australians 16+: physical abuse 32.0%; sexual abuse 28.5%; emotional abuse 30.9%; neglect 8.9%; exposure to domestic violence 39.6%. Among 16–24 year-olds (childhood to age 18): physical 28.2%; sexual 25.7%; emotional 34.6%; neglect 10.3%; domestic-violence exposure 43.8%. Any mental disorder: 48% of maltreated versus 21.6% of non-maltreated; multi-type maltreatment 54.8%. Young people 16–24 who were maltreated were 2.9 times more likely to have a mental health disorder.",
      "year": "2021 survey; published 2023",
      "geo": "Australia",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/218/6/australian-child-maltreatment-study-national-prevalence-and-associated-health",
      "sourceTitle": "Australian Child Maltreatment Study (MJA 2023 supplement; Mathews et al.; Scott et al.)"
    }
  ],
  "structuralFactors": [
    {
      "factor": "Poverty, unemployment and material hardship",
      "howItHarms": "Mental disorders are more common where households lack work or live with economic strain. The ABS found 36.1% of unemployed people aged 16–64 had a 12-month mental disorder, versus 22.8% of employed people. Young Minds Matter found disorders more common in families where one or both carers were not in employment, in rented housing, and in step, blended or one-parent families. The Productivity Commission treats limited material resources as a barrier to social inclusion and recovery, not only as a downstream effect of illness.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Housing instability and homelessness",
      "howItHarms": "Two in five people (39.1%) who had ever been without a permanent place to live had a 12-month mental disorder, versus 19.5% of people who had never been without one. The Productivity Commission found housing can be as important as healthcare for recovery, recommended that people not be discharged from hospital or custody into homelessness, and treated housing as core mental-health infrastructure. Care-leavers are a documented high-risk group for homelessness after formal care ends.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Out-of-home care and child-protection contact",
      "howItHarms": "Children who have been in care have much higher odds of later mental-illness diagnosis. The National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy reports that for NSW children aged 6–14, odds of a mental-illness diagnosis were over 2 times higher after early-childhood protection-service contact, and over 5 times higher after placement in out-of-home care. AIHW counted about 44,900 children in OOHC at 30 June 2024 (7.7 per 1,000). First Nations children were about 11 times more likely to be in OOHC than non-Indigenous children (about 20,000 children; 50.3 per 1,000 versus 4.6 per 1,000). The National Children’s Commissioner has described child-protection and youth-justice systems as not fit-for-purpose for children with poverty, racism, disability and poor mental health.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/558c05da-13a9-4a2f-9afb-86a158318290/child-protection-australia-2023-24.pdf"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Family and domestic violence",
      "howItHarms": "Exposure to family violence is itself a form of child maltreatment (ACMS: 39.6% of Australians 16+; 43.8% of 16–24 year-olds reported childhood exposure). AIHW and ANROWS-linked Western Australian research found children exposed to DFV had a 49% higher likelihood of mental-health service contact; by age 18, 79% of exposed children had a mental-health service contact versus 16% of non-exposed children, with about a six-year lag from first recorded exposure (average age 6.5) to service contact (average 12.5). AIHW states exposure can harm development, mental and physical health, housing and wellbeing, especially when combined with poverty, parental mental ill-health or substance use.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/investigating-the-mental-health-of-children-exposed-to-domestic-and-family-violence-through-the-use-of-linked-police-data-and-health-records/read-summary/"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Disability waitlists and NDIS access gaps, including psychosocial disability",
      "howItHarms": "Delayed or denied disability support leaves families without therapy, respite or early-intervention while need continues. The Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS heard that permanency language clashes with recovery-oriented youth mental health, and that clinicians may be reluctant to call a young person’s condition permanent. Mental Health Australia, citing NDIA quarterly reports, recorded psychosocial-disability access grants falling from 51% in Q2 2022–23 to 23% in Q3 2024–25 while overall NDIS access stayed around 80% — this is an all-ages applicant figure, not children-only. The Commonwealth Ombudsman has repeatedly examined NDIA Participant Service Guarantee delays. NDIA quarterly reporting to 30 June 2025 notes a new early-intervention pathway being designed for children younger than 9.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/National_Disability_Insurance_Scheme/MentalHealth/Report/c02"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Racism and culturally unsafe services",
      "howItHarms": "AIHW’s Indigenous Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Clearinghouse summarises that racism is common for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across age and place, is associated with psychological distress and poorer social and emotional wellbeing, and blocks access to high-quality mental healthcare. Mayi Kuwayu analysis cited by AIHW found 42% of Indigenous adults reported everyday discrimination. The Productivity Commission recommended Indigenous-controlled organisations as preferred providers and culturally capable police, custody and aftercare responses. Over-representation in OOHC (11 times) is a structural, not individual, pattern.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/6557fd8d-8e50-4b38-931e-867edd7243fa/aihw-imh-racism-and-indigenous-wellbeing-mental-health-and-suicide-summary-paper.pdf"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Rural and remote access",
      "howItHarms": "ABS diagnostic prevalence is similar across Major Cities, Inner Regional and Outer Regional areas for 16–85 year-olds (about 21–22%), so the rural problem is mainly access, not a higher published city/country diagnostic rate in that survey. The NSMHW excludes Very Remote areas and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Workforce thins with remoteness: the National Rural Health Alliance, using AIHW/NHWDS figures, reported 2.2 times as many psychiatrists per 100,000 in Major Cities as in Remote areas and 5.3 times as many as in Very Remote areas; psychologists 4.1 times and mental health nurses 2.6 times more common in Major Cities than Very Remote areas. Distance, cost, thin public transport and digital gaps delay care.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.ruralhealth.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/nrha-mental-health-factsheet-july2021.pdf"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Wait times for CAMHS, psychologists and psychiatrists (the 'missing middle')",
      "howItHarms": "There is no single official national CAMHS wait-days statistic. The Productivity Commission (2020) described a 'missing middle': people too unwell for brief GP/Better Access care but below the threshold, or waitlisted, for state specialist services. The National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy reports CAMHS triaging to acute crisis, long public paediatric waitlists, and children being turned away when services have no capacity — which it says can itself harm recovery. A 2024 BMJ Open survey of Australian adolescents waiting for anxiety/depression treatment (not a census of CAMHS) found mean waits of 100.1 days for psychologists and 127.5 days for psychiatrists, and most said sadness and worry worsened while they waited.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/"
    },
    {
      "factor": "School exclusion, suspension and disengagement",
      "howItHarms": "There is no nationally consistent public dataset linking school exclusion to mental-health diagnosis. The Productivity Commission found children with mental illness face barriers to staying in education and recommended outreach when attendance drops, educational adjustments, and wellbeing as a school outcome alongside academic progress. Young Minds Matter found mental disorders associated with substantial days absent, especially in adolescents. Parliamentary Library research (2023–24) notes exclusionary discipline is applied disproportionately to students with disability, male students, First Nations students and students in OOHC. NSW publishes suspension/expulsion counts but they are not mental-health-specific and 2024 policy changes make year-to-year comparisons unreliable.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Online harm",
      "howItHarms": "eSafety’s nationally representative Keeping Kids Safe Online survey (Dec 2024–Feb 2025, n=3,454 children aged 10–17, before social-media age restrictions from 10 December 2025) found exposure to harm is common: 74% had seen content associated with harm; 53% had been cyberbullied; 60% had seen online hate and 27% had personally experienced it. After cyberbullying, 81% felt at least one negative emotion (most often sad/upset/hurt 53%); 48% reported at least one difficulty, including feeling bad about themselves (21%) or more worried or sad (20%). Teens and trans and gender-diverse children were generally at higher risk. This is exposure and impact, not a clinical diagnosis rate.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/the-online-experiences-of-children-in-australia"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Justice-system contact and criminalisation of distress",
      "howItHarms": "The Productivity Commission’s Mental Health inquiry (Chapter 21) found many people’s first contact with services is police, and recommended extra support for police mental-health incidents (including culturally capable responses), better mental healthcare in and after custody, and legal representation at mental-health tribunals. It treated justice contact as a system failure of earlier care, not as a solution. The National Children’s Commissioner has said children in youth justice have complex needs (poverty, racism, disability, poor mental and physical health) that current systems are not built to meet. No single national 'criminalisation of distress' rate for 0–24 is published; the harm pathway is official policy analysis, not a headcount.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/"
    },
    {
      "factor": "Climate-related distress (included because official sources discuss it)",
      "howItHarms": "AIHW’s Indigenous Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Clearinghouse commissioned work finding climate change is a recognised determinant of mental health and that increased anxiety about climate change is affecting First Nations social and emotional wellbeing, compounding colonisation-related distress, displacement and loss of Country. A Mission Australia / Orygen analysis of the 2022 Youth Survey (NGO, not a government census) found 26% of young respondents were extremely or very concerned about climate change and 51% named the environment as a top national issue. These figures describe concern and recognised risk pathways; they are not a national 'climate-anxiety disorder' prevalence.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/87de1e3b-6ddc-4119-b853-74d41b0e5764/aihw-imh-climate-change-summary-paper.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "systemGaps": [
    {
      "gap": "The 'missing middle': moderate-to-severe need falls between short GP/Better Access psychology and crisis-only CAMHS/adult specialist care. Families who cannot afford private care wait or are turned away. Delay itself can worsen illness.",
      "agencies": [
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Age-threshold cliffs: infant services stop at school age; CAMHS to adult services often at 18; the shift is described by the National Mental Health Commission as arbitrary and misaligned with development. Young people can lose a treating team overnight without a replacement.",
      "agencies": [
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/projects/childrens-strategy/childrens-mental-health-wellbeing-strategy/childrens-mental-health-wellbeing-strategy-report/focus-areas/focus-area-2-the-service-system"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Aged-out-of-care cliff: about 4,200 young people aged 15–17 were discharged from OOHC in 2022–23. AIHW, citing CREATE (McDowall 2020), reports around 1 in 3 (30%) experience homelessness at some stage in the first year after leaving care, 37% of those for 6 months or more. A Victorian linked-data study cited by AIHW found 54% experienced homelessness within 4 years. National Framework language supports leaving-care plans from 15 and support to at least 21, but the Commonwealth has not imposed or resourced uniform minimums. Extended-care schemes now exist in jurisdictions but housing and mental-health follow-through remain uneven.",
      "agencies": [
        "DCJ",
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/specialist-homelessness-services-annual-report/contents/clients-leaving-care"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Fragmented child protection + health + disability: children in OOHC are over-represented in involuntary mental-health systems (documented in ACT Public Advocate oversight 2021–23). NDIS permanency rules, DCJ casework and CAMHS triage do not share a single plan. National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds has said the same evidence-based recommendations are repeated year after year without urgency or federation-level accountability.",
      "agencies": [
        "DCJ",
        "NDIS",
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/new-report-shares-voices-children-and-families"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Delayed or narrowing NDIS access, especially psychosocial disability and early childhood. Ombudsman reviews of the Participant Service Guarantee document paused clocks, poor communication of timeframes, and complaint themes of delay. NDIA is co-designing a new early-intervention pathway for children under 9, which is an admission that the current child pathway is not working well enough.",
      "agencies": [
        "NDIS",
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.ndis.gov.au/news/10958-acting-ceo-statement-ndia-response-ombudsmans-actions-speak-report"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Criminalisation of distress: police remain a default after-hours responder. Productivity Commission recommended alternatives to emergency departments, mobile crisis services, and better police support rather than custody as care. Discharge from hospital or corrections into homelessness was specifically warned against.",
      "agencies": [
        "Police",
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Restrictive practices: seclusion and restraint in public acute mental health units are officially reported because high use is treated as a safety failure. AIHW’s seclusion and restraint pages (last updated 30 April 2024) have reported child and adolescent services as having the highest seclusion rate of target-population groups, at 12 events per 1,000 bed days in the published national series. Victorian Office of the Chief Psychiatrist data for 2020–24 show child and adolescent seclusion and bodily-restraint rates well above adult and older-persons units in several years, partly reflecting small wards and nasogastric feeding in eating-disorder care. Live AIHW tables should be checked; the full HTML of the national page was bot-protected at compile time.",
      "agencies": [
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/topic-areas/seclusion-and-restraint"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Rural and remote workforce maldistribution and exclusion of Very Remote / discrete Aboriginal communities from the national diagnostic survey, so those communities are both under-served and under-counted.",
      "agencies": [
        "Health"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release"
    },
    {
      "gap": "Leaving-care / TSIL exits often lock civil identity (7-day Service NSW ID and address updates) before the young person's own wishes, records access, Victims of Crime, TILA and ILA are completed. The System names this the will-first inversion.",
      "agencies": [
        "DCJ",
        "designated OOHC/TSIL agencies",
        "Services Australia",
        "Service NSW",
        "NDIS",
        "Public Guardian / TAG"
      ],
      "sourceUrl": "will-circulation-tsil-evaluation.json"
    }
  ],
  "protectiveOfficialHelp": [
    {
      "name": "Emergency (ambulance / police / fire)",
      "phone": "000",
      "url": "https://www.triplezero.gov.au/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days. Use if life is in immediate danger."
    },
    {
      "name": "Kids Helpline",
      "phone": "1800 55 1800",
      "url": "https://www.kidshelpline.com.au/get-help/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days; phone and webchat for ages 5–25. Wait times can exceed an hour after school and evenings."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lifeline",
      "phone": "13 11 14",
      "url": "https://www.lifeline.org.au/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days. Crisis support and suicide prevention."
    },
    {
      "name": "13YARN",
      "phone": "13 92 76",
      "url": "https://www.13yarn.org.au/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis supporters; free, confidential, culturally safe."
    },
    {
      "name": "headspace centres",
      "phone": "",
      "url": "https://www.headspace.org.au/",
      "hours": "Local centre hours vary (typically business hours). Free, voluntary support for 12–25: mental health, physical/sexual health, alcohol and other drugs, work and study. No referral required at most centres."
    },
    {
      "name": "eheadspace",
      "phone": "1800 650 890",
      "url": "https://headspace.org.au/online-and-phone-support/connect-with-us/",
      "hours": "3pm–10pm local time, every day; phone and webchat. Email any time, clinician reply within 2 days. For young people 12–25 and family/carers. Peak waits can be 40 minutes or more."
    },
    {
      "name": "QLife (LGBTIQ+ peer support)",
      "phone": "1800 184 527",
      "url": "https://qlife.org.au/",
      "hours": "3pm–9pm every day (current official site, 2026). ABS still lists 3pm–midnight on its 2020–2022 study help list — use the live QLife site for hours."
    },
    {
      "name": "ReachOut",
      "phone": "",
      "url": "https://au.reachout.com/",
      "hours": "Online mental health service for under-25s and parents; always-on website, not a 24-hour phone crisis line."
    },
    {
      "name": "Beyond Blue",
      "phone": "1300 22 4636",
      "url": "https://www.beyondblue.org.au/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days."
    },
    {
      "name": "Suicide Call Back Service",
      "phone": "1300 659 467",
      "url": "https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days."
    },
    {
      "name": "1800RESPECT (domestic, family and sexual violence)",
      "phone": "1800 737 732",
      "url": "https://www.1800respect.org.au/",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days."
    },
    {
      "name": "NSW Mental Health Line",
      "phone": "1800 011 511",
      "url": "https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/Pages/mental-health-line.aspx",
      "hours": "24 hours, 7 days. NSW only. Staffed by mental-health professionals; advice, assessment and referral to NSW Health mental health services."
    }
  ],
  "summation": "If you are a young person in Australia, or someone who cares for one, feeling scared does not mean you have done something wrong, and it does not mean a government website or this portal will take over your case. Official surveys show mental-health problems are common in children and especially in 16–24 year-olds, and many people who meet criteria have not seen a professional yet — that is a service gap, not a personal failure. Things around a person (violence at home, unstable housing, money stress, racism, long waits, leaving care at 18, being cut off from school, or harm online) can make distress worse; those are documented public facts, not a diagnosis of you. Help that is free, confidential and available without this site knowing your name includes Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (5–25, 24/7), Lifeline 13 11 14, 13YARN 13 92 76 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, eheadspace 1800 650 890 (12–25, 3pm–10pm), QLife 1800 184 527 (LGBTIQ+), and 000 if someone is in immediate danger. A GP, a local headspace centre, or in NSW the Mental Health Line 1800 011 511 can help you find the next step. You can go slowly, take a trusted adult if you want one, and you do not have to agree to anything on a first call.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022",
      "url": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "ABS media release: Two in five Australians have experienced a mental disorder",
      "url": "https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/two-five-australians-have-experienced-mental-disorder",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Australia’s health 2026, Key findings",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2026/contents/key-findings",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Suicide and self-harm monitoring — Suicide among young people",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/populations-age-groups/suicide-among-young-people",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Seclusion and restraint (public acute mental health units)",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/topic-areas/seclusion-and-restraint",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Child protection Australia 2023–24",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/558c05da-13a9-4a2f-9afb-86a158318290/child-protection-australia-2023-24.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Indigenous Health Performance Framework 2.12 Child protection",
      "url": "https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-12-child-protection",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Productivity Commission Closing the Gap dashboard — Outcome 12 child protection",
      "url": "https://www.pc.gov.au/closing-the-gap-data/dashboard/outcome-area/child-protection/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Specialist homelessness services 2023–24 — Clients leaving care",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/specialist-homelessness-services-annual-report/contents/clients-leaving-care",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Racism and Indigenous wellbeing, mental health and suicide (summary)",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/6557fd8d-8e50-4b38-931e-867edd7243fa/aihw-imh-racism-and-indigenous-wellbeing-mental-health-and-suicide-summary-paper.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "AIHW Climate change, social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention (summary)",
      "url": "https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/87de1e3b-6ddc-4119-b853-74d41b0e5764/aihw-imh-climate-change-summary-paper.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Young Minds Matter — Prevalence of mental disorders",
      "url": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/prevalence-of-mental-disorders/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Young Minds Matter — Service use",
      "url": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/our-research/service-use/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Lawrence et al., key results, Young Minds Matter (ANZJP)",
      "url": "https://youngmindsmatter.thekids.org.au/siteassets/media-docs---young-minds-matter/lawrence_anzjp_keyresults_version2.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Productivity Commission Mental Health inquiry report (2020)",
      "url": "https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/mental-health/report/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy — Focus area 2: The service system (National Mental Health Commission)",
      "url": "https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/projects/childrens-strategy/childrens-mental-health-wellbeing-strategy/childrens-mental-health-wellbeing-strategy-report/focus-areas/focus-area-2-the-service-system",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy — full report PDF",
      "url": "https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-03/national-children-s-mental-health-and-wellbeing-strategy---full-report.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Australian Child Maltreatment Study — MJA 2023 supplement",
      "url": "https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/218/6/australian-child-maltreatment-study-national-prevalence-and-associated-health",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Mathews et al. 2023, The prevalence of child maltreatment in Australia, MJA",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51873",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Scott et al. 2023, Child maltreatment and mental disorders, MJA",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51870",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "eSafety Commissioner — The online experiences of children in Australia",
      "url": "https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/the-online-experiences-of-children-in-australia",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "eSafety — How common is cyberbullying among children in Australia?",
      "url": "https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/the-online-experiences-of-children-in-australia/snapshot-cyberbullying",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "ANROWS — Children exposed to DFV and mental health (Orr et al. WA linked data)",
      "url": "https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/investigating-the-mental-health-of-children-exposed-to-domestic-and-family-violence-through-the-use-of-linked-police-data-and-health-records/read-summary/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS — Mental health, Chapter 2",
      "url": "https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/National_Disability_Insurance_Scheme/MentalHealth/Report/c02",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "NDIA response to Commonwealth Ombudsman Actions Speak report",
      "url": "https://www.ndis.gov.au/news/10958-acting-ceo-statement-ndia-response-ombudsmans-actions-speak-report",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Mental Health Australia — Incoming Government Brief: Psychosocial Disability & the NDIS (citing NDIA quarterly reports)",
      "url": "https://admin.mentalhealthaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/docs/incoming_government_brief_-_psychosocial_disability_and_ndis_-_mental_health_australia_-_20_june_2025.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Victorian Office of the Chief Psychiatrist — Seclusion and restraint report 2020–24",
      "url": "https://www.health.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-11/office-of-the-chief-psychiatrist-seclusion-and-restraint-report-2020-24.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "National Rural Health Alliance — Mental health fact sheet",
      "url": "https://www.ruralhealth.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/nrha-mental-health-factsheet-july2021.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Kids Helpline — Get help",
      "url": "https://www.kidshelpline.com.au/get-help/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "headspace / eheadspace — Connect with us",
      "url": "https://headspace.org.au/online-and-phone-support/connect-with-us/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "13YARN",
      "url": "https://www.13yarn.org.au/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "QLife",
      "url": "https://qlife.org.au/",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "NSW Health — Mental Health Line",
      "url": "https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/Pages/mental-health-line.aspx",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Mission Australia / Orygen — Climate concerns and young people’s mental health",
      "url": "https://orygen.org.au/getmedia/4d21728e-f589-40a1-a271-ba9a070e86ff/Mission-Australia-Orygen-climatechange-report-17APRIL.aspx?ext=.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Khor et al. 2024, Wait times for adolescent anxiety/depression treatment, BMJ Open",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-087342",
      "accessed": "2026-08-24"
    }
  ],
  "figuresRefusedUnverified": [
    "Diagnostic 12-month prevalence for ages 0–3: no national survey exists.",
    "A combined persons rate for 4–11 or 12–17 from Young Minds Matter: the official pages fetched publish sex-by-age, not a single persons rate for those bands.",
    "A single official national CAMHS wait time in days: governments have not published one comparable national figure. Peer-reviewed 2024 survey waits (100 / 128 days) are included only as a sample of help-seekers, not a census.",
    "National percentage of school suspensions that are of students with mental illness: no nationally consistent linked dataset.",
    "NDIS 'nine-month' wait as a current national average: appeared in secondary commentary, not confirmed from an NDIA table in this compile.",
    "Suicide as 39.9% of deaths among 18–24 (older AIHW 2021 citation used in some papers): superseded for this portal by 2023 AIHW figures (33.1% of 18–24 deaths; 31.8% of 15–17 deaths).",
    "Emerging Minds overview that 'half to two-thirds' of children in OOHC have mental-health difficulties: not pinned to a named survey year in the pages fetched; used the NMHC Strategy's NSW odds ratios instead.",
    "ABS 2020–21 partial-release 39.6% for 16–24: replaced by the final 2020–2022 figure of 38.8%."
  ]
}