Categories: depression, stress, australia
Date: 15 September 2008 12:53:01
Two heart-breaking stories on ABC tonight: Australian Story told the story of a teenage girl who took her own life and Four Corners gave a guard's view of Australia's detention centres during their toughest years.
The story of Hannah Modra's suicide, and the depression that led to it, was simply heart-wrenching. The family decided to tell the story so that the issue of depression, and youth suicide, was brought to the wider public's attention. I can only pray it is, and that the strong faith of the family can help them through this, as well as the numerous other struggles they have. And we can but pray other young people, and people of all ages, will seek and find the help they need in times of distress and illness, physical or mental.
The harsh policies instituted as part of mandatory detention are, to me, as with the issues facing our Indigenous peoples, severe blights on Australia's history and present and well and truly put to rest any notion, to me, that we are "the land of the fair go". It is my belief that the way we have, and still do, treat asylum seekers in compounds is inhumane [though I believe steps have been and are still taking place to make this more humane] -- but the people affected by their time in detention will need to face the issues arising from their time there for the rest of their lives. The Four Corners program told the story of two of the more infamous "detention centres" [run by private companies, which still shocks me...], Woomera and its replacement Baxter, from the side of the guards who worked there. Another heartbreaking experience of seeing how de-humanised some became, and the horrible effects that continue to plague them [stress, depression, self-harm...] to this day. Though there were those who were compassionate and kind to the detainees; yet even they were stretched to breaking point. As I wrote, a blight on our history.
I think I will watch the episode of Doctor Who screened here last night [when Rose makes her return] as a counter to these: I need some escapism. Media Watch was as enjoyable, and sigh-inducing at times, as usual: a great programme, analysing and commenting on Australia's media.
A night to be inside btw: it is blowing a gale outside.