Grieving mother calls for better mental health services in Karratha after son’s suicide
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Viewers are advised that the following story contains images of a person who has died. A woman who lost her 21-year-old son to suicide is campaigning for urgent improvements to mental health services in WA’s Pilbara region. She says her son Machlan was let down by a lack of support in Karratha and it appears government promises to establish more mental health services have stalled.
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00:00 For Christy Grafenhofer, the loss of her son, Macklin, is raw.
00:06 He was the funniest person you ever met.
00:09 He was talented, he was amazing at art, a fantastic musician.
00:15 Loving, generous.
00:17 His job was to make everybody laugh.
00:20 He just, he declined rapidly.
00:22 She says more mental health services are desperately needed in Karratha.
00:26 You go to ED, they'll treat the symptoms.
00:29 You go home and you just keep, it's just a really broken system.
00:34 And service providers agree.
00:36 Things have been changing.
00:38 There's more programs that are coming into the region, but change is slow.
00:42 And when it comes to suicide, there's just no time.
00:45 Government plans for a new residential mental health facility
00:48 have stalled after community concerns about the location.
00:52 A new site was proposed in 2019, but there's been little progress.
00:56 That felt like to the community that they were starting again,
01:00 which drove up a bit of anxiety around,
01:03 are we ever going to get this mental health facility?
01:07 In a statement, WA's Mental Health Commissioner said
01:09 they were committed to the project and understood delays could be frustrating.
01:14 She said more updates would be available
01:16 following further community consultation.
01:19 The state government says support is available
01:21 at the local emergency department.
01:23 The staff on the ground do everything they can to keep their clients safe
01:27 and make sure that they get the supports that they need.
01:30 But Ms Grafenhofer says it's not enough.
01:32 She says an increasing number of people are reaching out to her,
01:36 but she doesn't know how to help them.
01:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]