A Sunshine Coast mother has shared the heart-wrenching reality of caring for her adult son with schizophrenia to shed light on the need for more investment in community-based mental health care.
Her plea comes as data from the Sunshine Coast Health District revealed the region has 68 adult mental health beds across its network, treating more than 10,000 people for mental health conditions in 2025.
Susan* and her 29-year-old son Tim* resorted to asking for help online after recently becoming homeless due to her son having a psychotic episode that led to her neighbours complaining to police and her landlord.
Susan, 59, said her son was ordinarily a “really loving person” when not suffering from symptoms.
She said Tim’s condition had worsened over time, and required multiple hospitalisations this year alone when his symptoms had him thinking “everyone was against him”.
Her son has received treatment at Gympie, Sunshine Coast and Nambour hospital already this year.
“He’s been hospitalised three times this year; that was every time I had to call an ambulance. I was advised to call an ambulance, and oftentimes the police would get involved when I did,” she said.
“It’s just the worst time in my life, the past five months. He hated me; he was thinking everyone was against him.”
She said her son was a “disaster waiting to happen”.
In March her son was taken to Nambour Hospital and then released and sent home in a taxi without her knowledge.
“They called me late at night, but I was asleep,” she said.
Tim’s next episode led to the mother and son losing their housing.
“He was in psychosis and paranoid about some neighbours and hearing voices. He went to their house.
“I had to move out because of the neighbour worried about him coming back — I understood their position. That would have been terrifying.
“There are no services; no one’s got any resources. It feels like you’re just getting pushed around.”
Despite the Sunshine Coast only having 68 adult mental health beds while treating 10,000 mental conditions last year, a spokesman said there were “no wait times” for inpatient care for those who meet the criteria for admission under the Mental Health Act.
Mental Health teams are based at Gympie, Nambour, Maroochydore and Caloundra hospitals.
SCUH and Nambour Hospital also recently opened Crisis Support Spaces in June, where people experiencing mental health crises can access peer-led therapeutic support outside of an emergency department.
Queensland Mental Health Alliance Acting Board Chair, Tanya Shay, urged the state government to use the Mental Health Levy – forecast to raise $597m this financial year alone – to invest in non-clinical, community-based health organisations.
“Susan’s son does not need one good day in a crisis service,” she said.
“He needs somewhere that knows him, stays with him and helps him hold onto housing and connection over years, not hours.
“That’s what community-managed health organisations do, and there are far too few of them on the Sunshine Coast.”
The QMHA also advocates for further funding and implementation of peer-led, therapeutic support spaces like the Crisis Support Spaces after research showed the model was a cost-effective way of improving health outcomes for people experiencing mental health crisis.
“The state’s own evaluation found that people who used a Safe Space had fewer emergency department presentations and fewer hospital admissions afterwards,” Ms Shay said.
“It keeps people out of hospital and it costs a fraction of an inpatient bed.”
A Sunshine Coast Health spokesman said the mental health levy was allocated to “state-funded mental health, alcohol and other drug services”.
“Evidence shows our increased investment is leading to improved outcomes for people accessing care, with mental health related readmission to hospital well below the national target and it continues to trend downwards,” he said.
It is understood the rate of mental-health readmission to hospital in the year 2023-24 was at 9.3 per cent – well below the national target of 12 per cent.
Susan and Tim have since found housing, and Tim is in contact with mental health clinicians.
*Names changed to protect privacy