As humans, we are driven to seek answers.
When the unthinkable happens, our natural instinct is to try to make sense of it.
But in our haste to process the horror that unfolded in Bondi, we must resist the urge to jump to simplistic conclusions.
While we mourn with the loved ones of those who lost their lives, the truth is that we may never know what drove this man to commit these terrible acts.
Despite this, many in the media and on social media have drawn a direct line between his diagnosis of schizophrenia and his actions that day. For some, this provides a clean explanation for what happened.
But the diagnosis of schizophrenia does not tell us everything we need to know.
Millions of Australians with mental illness live, work and play in the community and with the right care and support, they can live healthy, contributing lives. They are people like us.
Some people living with more severe or complex mental illness need a greater intensity of care to thrive. Early intervention is critical. Long-term, consistent and reliable support is needed not only for the individual but also for their family and carers.
Living with a mental illness does not make you inherently violent. The research is clear – people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.
When an incident of harm does occur, the tragedy is that it is often precipitated by days, weeks, months, or even years of systemic failures in our mental health system, often compounded by associated social factors such as abuse, homelessness, poverty, and drug use. substances.
Instead of simply linking criminal behavior to mental illness, the conversation we should be having is how woefully inadequate our mental health system is and has been for decades.
We don’t even know how many people in Australia are living with schizophrenia because the most recent data set is from 2007. This woefully outdated data directly affects our ability to design and deliver services
As more details emerge about this man’s story, what is clear is that he fell through the cracks of a fragmented and inaccessible mental health system.
This will come as no surprise to struggling families and those working on the front lines of a system at breaking point.
SANE’s recent Bridging the Gaps survey found that more than half of people living with complex or long-term mental illness had never been helped to access mental health or social services.
Only 7 percent were able to access mental health care without paying a gap fee. Waiting lists for non-crisis psychiatric care were 6 months or longer.
There is an urgent need to fund early intervention and prevention and psychosocial support for people with complex presentations to prevent deterioration that can lead to acute crisis.
It strikes me as a sad irony that the stigma faced by many Australians living with complex mental health conditions – currently exacerbated by sensationalist media reporting – can often be the reason they cannot access the support they need to to stay well.
While public awareness of mild to moderate conditions such as anxiety or depression has increased and people who share their personal experiences are often celebrated, this is not the case for conditions such as schizophrenia.
The public’s lack of understanding can create barriers to housing and employment, and sometimes mental health care, because they are seen as ‘too complicated’.
At SANE we hear this story every day. Thousands of Australians access our online services for support and advice because they can’t get support anywhere else.
When tragedies like the one in Bondi happen, there is always an immediate cry for justice. , but there is a danger that justice will involve little more than an expensive coronial inquest and a memorial statue.
If we really want to make sure this doesn’t happen again, we need to stop dealing with extremes and properly fund the mental health system. Fill service gaps and provide access to the early intervention and support people need to get on a path to recovery.
We owe it to the victims and their families.
Rachel Green is the CEO of SANE.
SANE provides free, nationally accessible support services for people with complex mental health needs. Visit sane.org/get-support.
