Better mental health support could help avoid tragedies like Sydney

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These horrible events make the public fear all people with mental health issues (EPA)

The tragic killings in Sydney come not long after the Nottingham stabbings, where the perpetrator in both instances had mental health issues. Of course, the care systems in both these cases appear to have failed.

The wider point I would like to make is that these horrible events make the public fear all people with mental health issues and continue to ensure that they are discriminated against and given few opportunities. This is solely because the media never tells any stories of the good and positive contributions people with mental health issues make every single day. This must change. Rather than writing off the mentally ill as villains, we must look at why the system fails them.

Richard Whiteside