Addiction/Mental Health: Girl dead of overdose 'wasn't getting the right help'

I think mental health services in this country are just horrifically awful and unable to deal with anything complex (ie realistic) at all. It seems to me that the whole system is unrealistic in what mental health services are required and that unless you are presenting voluntarily seeking help for a straightforward condition the services available are useless .

I know involuntary admission is legally very difficult in a lot of circumstances and I don't blame the mental health professional individuals in that regard. However I feel our society, including the voice of the wider mental health profession, is failing completely to address the huge issues around mentally ill people who require treatment for the sake of themselves and those around them and I don't think the current set up is even close to adequate. Society seems to expect families to deal with those with untreated mental illness and offers nothing but token support. Society also criticises and condemns families who walk away from untreated mental illness, while at the same time advising individuals to do just that, rather than offer realistic support options. Society is happy to be reactive and wait until someone is dead before acting in the case of violence due to untreated mental illness and in my experience our systems for holding violent involuntary patients are completely inadequate.

I understand that addiction is an added layer of complication and the issue of personal freedoms and personal responsibility is huge in this regard before treatment can be considered. However the current situation regarding services for people with mental illness who also engage in substance abuse is imo laughable given how common the connection between the two issues.

Anyway, my own experiences don't involve any addiction issues, just total failure of our mental health services in dealing with serious mental illness involving violence. I'm have been a member of a support group for family members of those with serious mental illness and the suffering of those people is just so sad and completely ignored. They are abandoned to little more than tea and insincere sympathy and their family members with mental illness are left to fate. The system is not fit for purpose or at the very least, it is my opinion that the narrow purpose of the system is failing too many individuals, families and communities.