Youth mental health is in genuine crisis. 2-3 youth in every class room are thinking of suicide. One youth will try to take their life. There has recently been a 50 per cent increase in recorded cases of youth mental illness.
Governments are slow to respond to the epidemic. The social and economic repercussions are enormous and will re-shape our society. As these ‘emerging adults’ suffer, their parents fight for their survival.
In this feature documentary, we take an intimate view of the lived experience for global youth and their parents, through the lens of a famous Australian mental health expert and father, Australian of the Year Professor Pat McGorry AO, of the Orygen Institute.
Too often, a parent takes their suicidal teen to the local hospital emergency department and waits for hours for help that never comes. They realise there are no medical staff available to treat their child. There are no resources to access and no-one to talk to. The parent wants to save their child but retreats home, without support, abandoned by a medical system that is overwhelmed and underfunded. In 2024, this experience is common place. Youths are hurting themselves at a record rate in Australia and across the world. Being born to wealth in western economies is no protection because mental health resources are scarce and funding pressures are growing everywhere.
Our story centres around Australia’s foremost youth mental health advocate, Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry. We enter his world and exclusively document his past experience as a father in a system in severe strain. We also hear from other parents of youth who’ve survived a mental health crisis – and from those whom have lost a child. And we feel hopeful, as we hear directly from today’s youth – about a revolution taking place across the globe. They are mobilizing to bring change in the way governments, health and education systems, parents and the general public respond to youth mental health.
