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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Susan, 59, said her son was ordinarily a \u201creally loving person\u201d when not suffering from symptoms.<\/p>\n
She said Tim\u2019s condition had worsened over time, and required multiple hospitalisations this year alone when his symptoms had him thinking \u201ceveryone was against him\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her son has received treatment at Gympie, Sunshine Coast and Nambour hospital already this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the worst time in my life, the past five months. He hated me; he was thinking everyone was against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her son was a \u201cdisaster waiting to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n
In March her son was taken to Nambour Hospital and then released and sent home in a taxi without her knowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey called me late at night, but I was asleep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tim\u2019s next episode led to the mother and son losing their housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was in psychosis and paranoid about some neighbours and hearing voices. He went to their house.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to move out because of the neighbour worried about him coming back \u2014 I understood their position. That would have been terrifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no services; no one\u2019s got any resources. It feels like you\u2019re just getting pushed around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the Sunshine Coast only having 68 adult mental health beds while treating 10,000 mental conditions last year, a spokesman said there were \u201cno wait times\u201d for inpatient care for those who meet the criteria for admission under the Mental Health Act.<\/p>\n
Mental Health teams are based at Gympie, Nambour, Maroochydore and Caloundra hospitals. <\/p>\n
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 \u2013 forecast to raise $597m this financial year alone \u2013 to invest in non-clinical, community-based health organisations. <\/p>\n
\u201cSusan\u2019s son does not need one good day in a crisis service,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs somewhere that knows him, stays with him and helps him hold onto housing and connection over years, not hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what community-managed health organisations do, and there are far too few of them on the Sunshine Coast.\u201d <\/p>\n
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.
\u201cThe state\u2019s own evaluation found that people who used a Safe Space had fewer emergency department presentations and fewer hospital admissions afterwards,\u201d Ms Shay said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps people out of hospital and it costs a fraction of an inpatient bed.\u201d <\/p>\n
A Sunshine Coast Health spokesman said the mental health levy was allocated to \u201cstate-funded mental health, alcohol and other drug services\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvidence 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It is understood the rate of mental-health readmission to hospital in the year 2023-24 was at 9.3 per cent \u2013 well below the national target of 12 per cent. <\/p>\n
Susan and Tim have since found housing, and Tim is in contact with mental health clinicians. <\/p>\n
*Names changed to protect privacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sunshine Coast mother has shared the heart-wrenching reality of caring for her adult son with schizophrenia to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[270283,270288,270293,270237,270266,253595,270318,53063,270317,270265,270250,270239,213053,26376,73067,1135,174372,270313,270306,270315,270281,270241,270271,270299,270251,270294,269566,253315,270292,270252,270233,270308,5051,270244,270245,270295,270334,12773,46362,270305,270307,270312,67364,270280,2594,18,270329,10341,270279,270256,270268,270242,135,5391,270285,270255,270320,270302,270260,270333,270263,269505,270327,2598,34444,690,17929,3847,270261,19,270254,7006,17,270286,93457,270301,6863,34659,42313,270290,167,270298,25058,270258,5863,270262,270316,270287,502,270330,270289,12440,270326,270296,22826,270322,98175,9433,270277,270234,270257,270304,270238,270323,270236,270269,270267,237,5915,270310,270309,172,8046,270274,270282,270243,13480,270328,270284,270331,270321,270278,270332,270272,270300,270297,270247,270246,270235,270276,270324,265835,270249,270319,270291,102753,270311,270303,270264,270314,270259,127921,270253,270240,270275,270270,270248,270273,267484,229961,1093,94,270325,2058],"class_list":["post-638956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-s-condition","tag-s-desperate-plea","tag-s-next-episode","tag-s-own-evaluation","tag-s-schizophrenia-battle","tag-s-son","tag-state-funded-mental-health","tag-my-life","tag-597m","tag-000-mental-conditions","tag-000-mental-health-conditions","tag-000-mental-health-patients","tag-000-people","tag-26376","tag-73067","tag-1135","tag-174372","tag-68-adult-mental-health-beds","tag-68-beds","tag-9-3","tag-a-really-loving-person","tag-a-cost-effective-way","tag-a-crisis-service","tag-a-disaster","tag-a-fraction","tag-a-psychotic-episode","tag-a-safe-space","tag-a-spokesman","tag-a-sunshine-coast-health-spokesman","tag-a-sunshine-coast-mother","tag-a-taxi","tag-admission","tag-alcohol","tag-an-ambulance","tag-an-emergency-department","tag-an-inpatient-bed","tag-any-resources","tag-care","tag-cent","tag-community-based-health-organisations","tag-community-based-mental-health-care","tag-community-managed-health-organisations","tag-contact","tag-crisis-support-spaces","tag-data","tag-eire","tag-every-time","tag-evidence","tag-fewer-emergency-department-presentations","tag-fewer-hospital-admissions","tag-further-funding-and-implementation","tag-gympie","tag-health","tag-health-outcomes","tag-hearing-voices","tag-her-29-year-old-son-tim","tag-her-adult-son","tag-her-knowledge","tag-her-landlord","tag-her-neighbours","tag-her-plea","tag-her-son","tag-his-symptoms","tag-home","tag-homeless","tag-hospital","tag-hours","tag-housing","tag-housing-and-connection","tag-ie","tag-improved-outcomes","tag-inpatient-care","tag-ireland","tag-its-network","tag-june","tag-just-68-beds","tag-last-year","tag-light","tag-march","tag-maroochydore-and-caloundra-hospitals","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-clinicians","tag-mental-health-conditions","tag-mental-health-crises","tag-mental-health-crisis","tag-mental-health-gaps","tag-mental-health-related-readmission","tag-mental-health-readmission","tag-mentalhealth","tag-more-investment","tag-more-than-10","tag-mother","tag-ms-shay","tag-multiple-hospitalisations","tag-nambour","tag-nambour-hospital","tag-names","tag-night","tag-no-one","tag-no-services","tag-no-wait-times","tag-non-clinical","tag-one-good-day","tag-other-drug-services","tag-our-increased-investment","tag-peer-led","tag-peer-led-therapeutic-support-outside","tag-people","tag-police","tag-psychosis-and-paranoid","tag-queensland-mental-health-alliance-acting-board-chair","tag-research","tag-schizophrenia","tag-scuh-and-nambour-hospital","tag-some-neighbours","tag-sunshine-coast-and","tag-susan","tag-susan-and-tim","tag-symptoms-she","tag-tanya-shay","tag-the-crisis-support-spaces","tag-the-criteria","tag-the-heart-wrenching-reality","tag-the-mental-health-act-mental-health-teams","tag-the-mental-health-levy","tag-the-mental-health-levy-forecast","tag-the-mother-and-son","tag-the-national-target","tag-the-need","tag-the-neighbour","tag-the-past-five-months","tag-the-police","tag-the-qmha","tag-the-rate","tag-the-region","tag-the-state","tag-the-state-government","tag-the-sunshine-coast","tag-the-sunshine-coast-health-district","tag-the-worst-time","tag-the-year-2023-24","tag-the-model","tag-their-house","tag-their-housing","tag-their-position","tag-therapeutic-support-spaces","tag-this-financial-year","tag-this-year","tag-three-times","tag-tim","tag-time","tag-treatment","tag-trend-downwards","tag-years"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}