Mentally Ill Wa Kids Still Put in Solitude

Cathy O’Leary, The West Australian, 7 Feb 2018

Dozens of mentally unwell children in WA are still being put in seclusion rooms or physically restrained, some for more than 10 hours at a time, figures show.

While WA’s Chief Psychiatrist Nathan Gibson said this week that he was committed to reducing the practices, his annual report reveals 28 patients aged under 18 were locked up a combined 124 times in 2016-17.

The longest time a child was in a seclusion room was 10 hours. The average time was 70 minutes.

There were also 48 under-18s physically restrained a combined 172 times, with an average time of five minutes.

Read the full article here: https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/mentally-ill-wa-kids-still-put-in-solitude-ng-b88731682z