In many ways, great! The rebuild is in full swing and suddenly the cranes that filled the skyline that were tearing things down have been replaced with cranes that are building things up again. Christchurch is a vibrant city with an explosion of creative and artistic things happening all over the place.
For some families though there is still ongoing stresses and anxiety. In the article linked below the Christchurch Press reported that there is a huge increase on adults and children seeking mental health support.
"The really unexpected thing we noticed is the level of maturity of new school entrants. The 5-year-olds that come to school now are not the same level of maturity than 5-year-olds that entered school before the earthquakes. The common theme among schools is there's a lot of anxiety, insecurity and disruptive behaviour. Not just the kids, but the parents as well ."
Child, Adolescent and Family (CAF) clinical director Dr Harith Swadi said help was needed.
"We are at the point where you can't change anything you can't keep changing models. There's nothing else we can do," he said. He said rates of mental illness in CAF would continue at the same levels, or more likely increase over the coming years.
While research showed the third year post-disaster as the worst for mental illness, Canterbury was different because of the number of aftershocks and indirect issues like insurance problems.
In this instance, it was more akin to the effects of a war, Swadi said.
More children were presenting with "fear and anxiety" — a product of the environment they were in rather than genetics.
Canterbury District Health Board chief of psychiatry Sue Nightingale said a significant increase "we weren't prepared for" was the number of middle-aged women using mental health services.
Read the rest of the article here
For some families though there is still ongoing stresses and anxiety. In the article linked below the Christchurch Press reported that there is a huge increase on adults and children seeking mental health support.
"The really unexpected thing we noticed is the level of maturity of new school entrants. The 5-year-olds that come to school now are not the same level of maturity than 5-year-olds that entered school before the earthquakes. The common theme among schools is there's a lot of anxiety, insecurity and disruptive behaviour. Not just the kids, but the parents as well ."
Child, Adolescent and Family (CAF) clinical director Dr Harith Swadi said help was needed.
"We are at the point where you can't change anything you can't keep changing models. There's nothing else we can do," he said. He said rates of mental illness in CAF would continue at the same levels, or more likely increase over the coming years.
While research showed the third year post-disaster as the worst for mental illness, Canterbury was different because of the number of aftershocks and indirect issues like insurance problems.
In this instance, it was more akin to the effects of a war, Swadi said.
More children were presenting with "fear and anxiety" — a product of the environment they were in rather than genetics.
Canterbury District Health Board chief of psychiatry Sue Nightingale said a significant increase "we weren't prepared for" was the number of middle-aged women using mental health services.
Read the rest of the article here
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