Surviving and thriving: addressing self-harm among children

Megan Mitchell, National Children’s Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission

No 2 Bullying Conference
7 Staghorn Avenue, Gold Coast QLD 4217
Monday 7 April 2014

1. Acknowledgments

I would like to begin by thanking the Conference Secretariat for inviting me to speak today.

I also acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this meeting takes place, and I pay my respects to elders both past and present. I also wish to acknowledge the other presenters and distinguished guests.

It is a real pleasure to be here at the Gold Coast, and to hear from so many people from different professional backgrounds who all committed to doing something about the scourge of bullying.

Whether because is a factor or not, the uncomfortable truth in this country is that each year hundreds of children and young people take their own life. Recently published data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 2012, shows that intentional self-harm is the now leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 24.^[1] And ABS data for the 2008 to 2012 reference period shows that 57 children aged 5-14 years old died because of suicide. ^[2]

Although the number of suicide deaths of children under the age of 15 is thankfully small, it is significant in terms of the proportion of all deaths within this age group.

I consider this tragic loss of beautiful young lives to be an issue of national concern, and as a result, throughout 2014 I will be examining how children’s rights can be better protected in the context of child and youth suicide and intentional self-harm.

Given this priority, which I will say more about later, it is opportune that I am here today at a conference devoted to countering bullying, with specific conference streams on school bullying and cyber bullying.

And as it is just over one year since I started my role as National Children’s Commissioner, I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect back on what I learned in my first year, and to talk about some of the emerging themes from this early work.

2. My role and the CRC

As many of you will be aware, although there have been Children’s Commissioners and Guardians in most the states and territories for a number years, my appointment was as the first National Children’s Commissioner in Australia. This was a long awaited recognition that children need a strong advocate at the national level to ensure that their interests, rights and wellbeing are being protected.

The legislation that governs my position – the Australian Human Rights Commission Act – gives me some tools to perform this role. They include:

• promoting awareness of matters relating to the human rights of children in Australia
• undertaking research, or educational or other programs, to promote respect for, and the enjoyment of human rights by children
• examining Commonwealth laws as to whether they recognise and protect the human rights of children
• and, submitting a report to the Parliament through Attorney-General each year about children’s rights.

The legislation also provides for me to give particular attention to children who are at risk or vulnerable. And I am to consult with children, as well as other relevant people and agencies, like yourselves.

And the human rights of children underpin all of the work that I do.

The key international human rights treaty relevant to children’s rights is the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It is the most comprehensive human rights treaty for children, covering a wide spectrum of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights to be enjoyed by children. It is also the most ratified of all international treaties

It recognises that children have human rights, like adults, but that they require special protection due to their vulnerabilities.

Australia ratified the Convention in 1990, and in doing so agreed to uphold the rights of all children in Australia.

3. Right to be heard

As you can see, one of the guiding principles of the CRC is the right to be heard, outlined in article 12.

This is a very special principle. It gives to every child the right to have a say, to have their views taken into account, and for those views to be taken seriously.

For children who are at risk or vulnerable, the right to be heard is especially important. Not only is it an essential component in ensuring their safety, this right also empowers children and helps to build their capabilities, resilience and wellbeing.

But of course, this is a fundamental right for all children, not just for those at risk.

4. The Big Banter

And because I believe strongly that children have a right to be heard, my initial priority as Australia’s first National Children’s Commissioner was to hear from children and their advocates.

So, between June and September last year I conducted a national listening tour, called the Big Banter.

During the Big Banter I met face to face with well over 1,000 children in workshops and discussions and I heard from another 1,400 kids from my online survey and reply-paid postcards. I also heard from hundreds of children’s advocates.

This slide illustrates a few of the things children and young people told me made them happy.

In general, children told me that the most important things to them are being able to be with family and friends. They enjoy their freedoms and being able to play, be active, and have fun, but they also appreciate fair boundaries and rules.

Here are some of the things they said would make life better for children in Australia.

As you can see, children are particularly concerned about the level of violence and bullying in the community and would like to live in an environment free from drugs, alcohol and smoking.

They worry that some children can’t afford to do or have the things they would like, and they want more things to be available for free. They want people to show more respect for one another and they want to be respected and listened to. And they definitely want to have a say.

The views of children expressed to me in the Big Banter are highlighted in my first Children’s Rights Report, launched in December last year.

5. The Children’s Rights Report

I will be using these yearly reports to take stock of progress on children’s rights and to highlight key priority issues. And we have just released a child friendly version of the first Report.

In this first report I have incorporated not only the views of children through the Big Banter, but also the perspective of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, national frameworks and action plans and the views of people and professionals like you who work with and for children.

Using these perspectives, my report discusses five emerging themes, which consider central to ensuring the maximum protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children. They are:

1. A right to be heard
2. Freedom from violence, abuse and neglect
3. The opportunity to thrive
4. Engaged citizenship
5. Action and accountability.

6. Freedom from violence

I would like to address two of these themes which go directly to the focus of this conference.

First, the importance of living free from violence, abuse and neglect has been consistently raised with me by children and children’s advocates.

These concerns have also been reflected in the work of the Australian Human Rights Commission on violence, bullying and harassment, including the BackMeUp campaign on bystander action against cyberbullying – a video making competition for young people run in 2012 and 2013.

Article 19 of the Convention sets out children’s right to be protected from physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation.

And growing up without violence and abuse is fundamental to the wellbeing, growth and development of children.

And yet, as we know, the incidence of child abuse, domestic violence and other violence which impacts on children remains high.

Bullying in schools continues to be widespread, with studies consistently showing that at least a quarter of children report being seriously bullied. Other research in this area suggests it is more like 60%.

When the Commission launched the Back me Up competition with Ruby Rose at a Sydney High School last year, I asked students in the auditorium to stand up if they had been a witness to cyberbullying. Alarmingly, alomost the whole audience stood up.

As I have indicated, many of the children I spoke to during the Banter told me of their concerns about safety, and the safety of their siblings and friends, in the context of both the physical and online world.

Here’s some more of what they said about this.

Life would be better if nobody got hurt and children felt safe all the time.

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if there was no drugs and violence. I’ve been beaten up and bullied. I complained about it but it didn’t fix the problem – 13 year old from the Northern Territory

Life would be better for children and young people if there was no hitting – Child from Western Australia

I recall another young woman at an alternate school in Brisbane, saying that the main reason she couldn’t stay at mainstream school was because of prolonged bullying. But it was also about not having her views taken seriously. When she finally raised her concerns about bullying with a teacher, that teacher told her that the school has an anti-bullying policy, so that shouldn’t be happening to her.

I believe we need to understand much better the impact of violence, abuse and neglect on the mental health of children and young people more broadly.

At the same time, we need to address the prevalence of physical and mental violence, perpetrated by adults and children themselves.

Recently a study of the mental health of almost 4,500 high school students reported that 34 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys felt constantly under strain and unable to overcome difficulties. More than half had low levels of resilience and of those 43 per cent felt violence was an appropriate way to solve relationship issues.^[3] And 16 per cent felt it was necessary to carry a weapon.

Australia is certainly aware of the problems of violence, abuse and neglect, and we have some excellent national initiatives which aim to coordinate government action across the country to address some of the issues involved.

However, as I outline in my report, there are some key areas where we can do more to address these problems:

• We need to ensure there are targets and benchmarks in place for national child well-being frameworks which can measure progress over time, as well as robust monitoring processes to learn what works, what must be improved and what must change.
• We can encourage a proactive approach to child safety, by placing a premium on prevention through enabling safe communities and environments for children.
• As part of this, we need to build resilience among our children. This includes work to ensure the protection of children in cyber space and to equip children to engage safely online.

It is in this context that I am deeply concerned about the messages being sent out to kids through the proposed changes to federal race discrimination laws, ostensibly in the name of strengthening the opportunities for free speech. Basically, the message conveyed by the proposed changes is that it is perfectly ok to vilify, intimidate, insult, offend and intimidate other human beings in just about any public circumstances. And you will not be protected if it happens to you. I find this particularly concerning when we have signed up to a Convention that obliges us to protect our children from harm and a duty to model and educate children about acceptable behaviour.

Just recently I came across this worrying article in the paper about the systematic bullying of young Islamic women and children. We certainly don’t want to encourage more of this kind of behaviour.

7. The opportunity to thrive

Another theme to emerge from my report is the opportunity for all children to, not just survive, but to thrive.

Article 6 of the CRC sets out a child’s right to life, survival and development.

And yet we know that even in a country as wealthy as Australia there are groups of children who fare worse and who do not enjoy the same opportunity to thrive as other children. Many of these children find themselves streamed into the costly tertiary systems of juvenile justice and out-of-home care, invariably putting them on a path to replicate patterns of social exclusion and disenfranchisement through the generations.

Children’s advocates I spoke to were especially concerned about vulnerable groups of children, such as those in out of home care and in the juvenile justice system, asylum seeking and refugee children, Aboriginal children, children with disabilities, and children who are homeless.

While not expressed in these terms, many children I spoke to were also aware that there are some disparities between the circumstances of children and their families.

I have Asperger’s Syndrome. Life in primary school was very difficult. Life would be better if people that were different, disabilities, races, religions and any other differences, all accepted each other. If there was no bullying. If schools were supportive of kids with disabilities, especially invisible disabilities like Asperger’s Syndrome – 14 year old child from Victoria

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if we were all treated with equality and we were all treated fairly. Life would be better if everyone learned the meaning of freedom – 10 year old child from Victoria

Life would be better for children if the government made sure every child had all the rights. I think every child should have food and water – An Australian child

The next two slides reflect the views of young people in the care system. As you can see what they yearn for relate to pretty basic rights – like privacy, stable trusted carers, food, someone who they can talk to and a home.

I believe that a key to building resilient children and breaking the cycle of disadvantage faced by vulnerable families is by making early intervention and prevention a national priority.

This was one of the strongest themes to emerge in my meetings with child advocates, and is supported by a large body of research.

Work commissioned by the Benevolent Society in 2013, Action Early Changing Lives, shows that it is important to do more to tackle issues for children early on, before they become difficult to fix and expensive for the community.

In Australia, while there are some promising individual at the local level, current investment in early intervention, prevention and family support across the nation is patchy, uncoordinated and poorly integrated.

As National Children’s Commissioner I will work during my term to advocate for a national commitment to early action and prevention as the basic building block for service delivery in every Australian community.

8. Focus on suicide and self-harm

This year, however, I will undertake a targeted project n that focuses on self-harm and suicide by children and young people. Necessarily this will involve examining the circumstances around suicidal and self-harming behaviour, including circumstances of bullying.

Children and young people frequently report a strong connection between bullying and abuse by peers and intentional self-harm, as suggested by some recent tragic cases we have seen in the media.

This connection was also strongly reflected in the stories created by 13 to 17 year olds for the Commission’s competition on taking positive action against cyber bullying I referred to earlier.

Here’s a still from one of the videos.

While limited data exists in Australia to adequately monitor trends or differentiate aspects of self-harming behaviour in children, the data that we do have is disturbing.

In 2012, 324 children and young people aged 15-24 took their own lives. This was the leading cause of death for that age cohort in that year. Of those 129 were aged between 15 and 19.

The number of suicide deaths by children and young people is small in total, but significant as a proportion of all deaths within this age group.

At risk young people are more likely to die by suicide.

For example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people 15-19 years old are over five times more likely to die by suicide than other young Australians.^[4]

And while youth suicide rates nationally have been slowing since 1997, there has been a confronting increase in the rates of youth suicide in particular areas, including the Northern Territory.^[5]

A recent survey by the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, called Growing Up Queer, highlighted the high rates of bullying and self-harming among young LGBTI people, with two thirds saying they had been bullied about their sexual orientation, 33% saying that they had self-harmed and 16% saying they had tried to take their own lives.

The number of young people who die by suicide in Australia each year is relatively low compared with the number who self-harm. It is difficult to estimate the rate of self-harm as hospital separation data is the main source of information.

What we do know is that for 2010/1, 7,597 young people aged 15 – 24 were hospitalised as a result of self-harming and a further 565, aged 14 and under hospitalised for treatment for self-harm.

While these figures are shocking enough in themselves, evidence suggests that only around 10% of young people who self-harm present for hospital treatment.^[6]

What impact does this have on children’s capacity to learn and grow in healthy ways? What kind of developmental legacy does this leave for a young person’s confidence, physical and mental health? How is their ability to engage in constructive relationships and the world of work affected? What stops children and young people from seeking help when they are anxious and worried? How can adults support children and young people in ways that does not cause more damage?

It is my hope that through this project we can learn from the experiences of children and young people, as well as from families, educators and expert practitioners about how we can better prevent, monitor and respond to self-harming behaviour in children and young people.

9. Conclusion

To conclude, bullying is a major concern and source of anxiety for many of the children I speak to, even if it is not happening directly to them. The advent of social media, which, has been noted, can prove difficult for both children and adults to control, often serves to intensify and escalate the experience of bullying to the point it can become overwhelming for a young person.

The question for us here is: what can we all do, in our own spheres and in our roles, to continue to shine a light on this pervasive issue, and the sometimes tragic consequences it can have.

This conference gives us an opportunity to explore what we can do as adults to both prevent bullying and manage it when it happens. And perhaps more importantly, to think about what we can do to equip children and young people to understand and stand up for their rights – to be free from violence in all its forms, to be safe, to speak up, and to seek help.

Thank you.

 

^[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics, Causes of Death, Australia, 2012 (2014), Cat No 3303.0, Table 1.3, line 39 (viewed 27 March 2014).
^[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 1.
^[3] Resilient Youth Australia survey, reported in The Age, 9 March 2014.
^[4] Australian Bureau of Statistics. note 1, Age (viewed 27 March 2014).
^[5] Northern Territory Government, Gone Too Soon: A Report into Youth Suicide in the Northern Territory, p 7.
^[6] De Leo D, Heller TS, Who are the kids who self-harm? An Australian self-report school survey 181(3) Med J Aust 2004, p 140-144.