Parents are concerned about kids' mental health at alarming rates. This is a good thing

For primary school-aged young people, social media and the devastating impacts of bullying continue to be a concern for families.

For young people in high school and beyond, navigating puberty, study stress and new relationships intermingle with new and emerging challenges.

The influence of social media, rising living costs, and uncertainty about the future because of climate change and geopolitical conflict, can all add to a young person's mental load.

Add to all this the ongoing reverberations from a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and, despite the impactful work of organisations like headspace, more and more young people are reaching out for help.

For young people coming to headspace, these concerns manifest in different ways: from school refusal to social isolation, anxiety and depression, and - in the most complex cases - self-harm and suicidal ideation.

This unprecedented pressure isn't just felt by young people - it extends into families and communities who see their young people struggling and want to know how best to support them.

To gain deeper insight into how families are coping, headspace recently surveyed parents and carers of young people aged 12-25 around Australia.

From the results, one statistic stood out: eight in 10 parents and carers are worried about their young person's mental health. Moreover, almost one-third of the most concerned families reported lacking confidence about how to seek professional help for their young person.

That statistic is alarming, but unsurprising. A natural part of parenting is to want your young person to live a happy and healthy life.

A more heartening way to look at the statistic is to acknowledge the enormous care that our families have for their young people, and how attuned families are to the sorts of issues their young people are facing. After all, families are in the prime seat when it comes to supporting young Australians' mental health.

They know their young people best and are often the first to notice when something is wrong.

Fortunately, so many of our families are doing a great job of responding. Almost half (45 per cent) of family members reported talking to their young person about mental health at least weekly.

There's no denying these conversations can be confronting. It's incredibly difficult to learn that your young person is going through a tough time.

But these hard conversations can also be the most important and most illuminating first step for parents who want to help their children get better.

This is how you understand the key worries of the young person - whether it's social anxiety, isolation, bullying, or self-harm.

Seeing that so many parents and carers share these concerns highlights a more urgent reality. We need to ensure that fit-for-purpose mental health resources are available, so that families can have these early conversations - and continue to talk about mental health as their young person is growing up.

Those resources need to meet families when and where they are at, to be within easy reach at any time of day or night and in moments of distress.

We also need to support family members and their mental health. Parents and carers dealing with their own stresses need to prioritise their own wellbeing. When they are depleted, it becomes even harder to provide effective support for their young person.

Organisations like headspace are a source of support. Since inception some 18 years ago, headspace has championed the voices of youth and families in the establishment of clinically and culturally safe services.

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While our extensive reach across the country (through 163 headspace centres, schools and communities programs and online services) is a key strength, we know that making a meaningful difference relies on our adaptability and responsiveness to emerging challenges.

Recently, the federal Health Minister Mark Butler also highlighted the concerns of communities, schools and families, when acknowledging the increasing demand for youth mental health services.

We share these urgent concerns, and headspace stands ready to adapt and evolve to meet the contemporary challenges experienced by young people today.

Families will play a vital role in that journey.

As we mark headspace Day, a national day of awareness for youth mental health, let's commit to a future where no family feels isolated or ill-prepared to support their young person's mental health. This is a challenge we can meet if we work together across the intersections of government, health systems, schools, communities, business and - importantly - the networks of families and friends who support young people in Australia.

By empowering families and promoting early intervention, we can make a lasting, positive impact on young Australians and set up our country for a mentally healthy future.