Page 2045 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 4 June 2019
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being broken down, people are more willing to come forward and seek support. We need to make sure that as they do and as new issues emerge, we are capable of providing a response for them.
MRS KIKKERT: Minister, what mental health services are available in the ACT to support someone who is suffering from gaming disorder?
MR RATTENBURY: If somebody did come forward with those conditions—they possibly would not know it themselves in the first instance—our mental health services generally would be available to them. They would perhaps make an appointment with a community mental health team to seek support for the manifestation of the condition they were experiencing and they would be taken in to the community mental health team. They would be assigned somebody to assess them and they would be given a treatment plan from there.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, what is being done proactively to inform the community, and particularly parents, of this issue—how to prevent it and how to support someone who is struggling with gaming disorder?
MR RATTENBURY: Mrs Dunne raises a very interesting point. I imagine that this is not first being picked up by the health system; I imagine it is being identified in the education system by teachers, who are often very aware of changes in their students, and of course parents. As with many issues, we need to continue to have this discussion with our community. We need to be open about talking about the mental health challenges that people face.
Things like eating disorders are another example in that space, and which perhaps, while better known, are poorly understood. The community has a very specific view of what an eating disorder is and probably thinks that teenage females are the primary group who experience that, whereas we are seeing increasing numbers of young males experiencing disorders. Right across the board, we need to continue to raise the issue of mental health in discussions in our community. We need to be open about talking about them and not be judgemental. The government’s response, particularly, is to make sure that we have a service system that can cope with that, as people do come forward.
Mental health—computer use
MR PARTON: My question is to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development. Minister, I refer to the World Health Organisation having, as Mrs Kikkert said earlier, recognised gaming disorder as a mental health issue. ACT government schools have been rolling out laptops to every high school student for the last couple of years, and digital devices have become common items in classrooms. Minister, what policies are in place within schools to moderate the use of devices provided to students?
MS BERRY: Devices provided to students privately by their families are monitored by their families. The ACT government committed to provide Chromebooks to every secondary student and year 11 and 12 student in public schools in the ACT. It has
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