It reported that 4.5 million Australians are in need of treatment but in the public system there is only one psychiatrist available per 130 patients. 

Given that it takes 12 years to qualify as a psychiatrist, there is clearly an insurmountable challenge for governments to provide the essential and urgent health care for so many Australians whose condition poses a great risk to themselves and others around them.

A similar crisis is occurring in Australian education. We are not attracting enough teachers and, like psychiatrists in the public health system, too many are leaving the profession, often finding employment in the private sector.

This poses a number of key questions. Why are there so many Australians suffering mental health issues?  Why are there so few qualified professionals to treat mentally ill patients? How many children in our schools require mental health care and what help is available? How can teachers be expected to cope with the increasing number of children who need urgent professional treatment?

Exploring the reasons for the exponential growth in the number of students suffering mental health problems is a critical, albeit a daunting task.

I sense that we have tended to find answers within individual pathology rather than looking at our society and culture and the impact it has in creating alienation, anomie and nihilism.

The decline of religion and the cynicism and lack of respect for the erstwhile prevailing morality and authority must be factors to consider when we continue to produce generations who see no meaning in life other than consuming and instant gratification.

With conflict and bad news the daily currency, is it not surprising that the default state of mind of many is chronic depression and fear.

Furthermore, the endemic failure to instil resilience in our young and our obsession with protecting our children from perceived threats and failure are fertile hotbeds fomenting mental health issues.

Helicopter parenting, insidious cancerous and corrupting social media, virtue signalling and a guilt-producing school curriculum are poisonous ingredients which will create insecurity and fear in even the most balanced and mentally healthy children.

If we tell our children that it is not safe to walk home from school with their friends and we must transport them to and from school; that every stranger is a danger; that all men are rapists; that the planet is about to wither and die and that we are all personally responsible for the atrocities of our ancestors, then we should not be surprised if more and more of our children are suicidal and living hopeless lives.

If we cannot change the world for the better, it is the lot of health professionals and teachers to deal with the casualties and try to prevent harm to those in our care?

In respect of the dire shortage of psychiatrists, surely there is an argument for designing and accrediting university courses to graduate psychiatrists in half the time.

Do psychiatrists need to be able to diagnose cancer and mend broken bones? Their training should be solely focussed on mending broken minds.

Working as I do with preservice teachers, I have lost count of the number who express frustration that their university curriculum does not prepare them for the real world in the classroom.

Although teachers can never be a substitute for a trained psychiatrist or counsellor, it is imperative that in their degree they study mental health and practical ways to deal with the increasing number of students in their future classrooms who will have mental health concerns.

Recent research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) discovered one in 10 children are on medication for ADHD, depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions.

We teachers are at the coalface and face the daunting task of doing what we can to help our at-risk students, a task even more important than teaching English, Maths or History.