Today we’re going to look at a statistic.  Yes I know, I know… When other people talk about statistics it’s not easy to grasp the relevance straight away. Stick with me. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

Please remember that our focus is here is only a very small subset of the community.  When we get to discussing the numbers,  remember the narrow focus, despite the large volume of people we’ll end up describing. More importantly, remember that these are just those who are affected by only one type of psychiatric disturbance.

The prevalence of Borderline Personality Disorder in the general community is estimated to be between 2 and 5 percent. ^[1]

How about this: Its prevalence is highest amongst people in their mid to late teens.^[1] In other words, school-aged children.

In Victoria in 2007 there were a total of 379,187 kids enrolled in secondary school education; 66,710 students enrolled in year 9 alone. ^[2] (Year 9 is primarily made up of students aged in their “mid” teens.)

In the same year there were 565 schools in Victoria offering secondary education ^[2], putting the average number of year 9 students per school at a little over 118 kids.   The average number of secondary students per school comes in at 671.

What does that mean?  It means that, statistically:

1. In year 9 alone there were over thirteen hundred kids suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder in Victoria.  That’s an entire 6-carriage Connex train jam-packed to capacity (not just seated) with schoolkids.Think about that next time you see an overcrowded train pull into the station in the peak hour rush.  (Remember, this number is just kids in one year level, in Victoria.)
2. Not only that, there are at least two kids in every year 9 level in every school in the state with the disorder.
3. Each secondary school in the state of Victoria has 13 kids with the disorder.
4. There were at least 7,583 kids of secondary school age with the disorder in Victoria alone.

Obviously that’s just a statistical average that bears no concept to reality, so let me give you some reality:

These are your kids.  If they’re not your kids, they’re your kids’ friends.  People that spend time in the same educational environment as your children on a daily basis. And they’re hurting, mentally and physically. They may even be suicidal.

My point is, people with this disorder may not be visible to you. If they’re self-harming the scars are usually covered with long sleeves or otherwise disguised, but they’re there.  Over seven and a half thousand kids in Victoria alone in 2007.

If you’re watching the Australian Open Tennis finals, that’s more than half a capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena.

How much time did your school spend educating kids on how to deal with their demons?

How well are your kids equipped to cope with their own mental health challenges?  Did you even know what Borderline Personality Disorder was before you followed the link to the Wikipedia article?

Mental health awareness is about more than educating the public on statistics.

I’ve worked with a number of kids who were diagnosed with this disorder.  I can say with certainty that most kids (hell, most adults) have no concept of how to manage their mental well-being effectively.

There needs to be greater emphasis placed on teaching life skills and coping skills in our education system.  It’s no exaggeration to say that you kids’ lives may one day depend on it.