DO ADOLESCENTS KNOW WHERE TO FIND HELP FOR MENTAL-HEALTH PROBLEMS - ABRIEF REPORT

Objective: Few previous studies have investigated adolescents' knowled ge of the services available to provide help with mental health proble ms. This is an important omission as knowledge about the availability of mental health services may significantly influence the extent to wh ich adolescents with mental health problems receive appropriate help f or their difficulties. The purpose of this study was to investigate kn owledge of mental health services among socio-economically disadvantag ed adolescents. Methodology: Students attending the participating high school completed a questionnaire describing mental health services in South Australia. Results: The results suggest that the adolescents ha d little knowledge of mental health services and they primarily discus sed their problems with other family members or friends. The results a lso suggest that the adolescents prefer to obtain information about me ntal health problems from education programmes in schools or on televi sion. Conclusions: There is a need to make adolescents and their famil ies more aware of the services available to provide help for mental he alth problems.