I live in Australia and the mental health system here sucks big time. You can't even get INTO the psych ward unless you are either acutely psychotic or you have attempted to kill yourself and failed (or succeeded, come to think of it). Otherwise no help for you. If you are suicidal but havent attempted, they don't really give a rats.

On the one occasion I DID get in there - they have nothing to offer except medication changes. You sit on a couch in front of the TV all day long. The nurses treat you like garbage. It took me like 4ish days to get to see the psychiatrist (there are no psychologists in there for some reason) and that was only because I camped outside his door continuously. Then they changed my medication, told me i had a bad attitude and then discharged me. How dare I go in there to seek help! The audacity!

The irony is this: everywhere they tell you that if you are feeling suicidal or whatever, to go directly to your local ER without hesitation. They tell you this on TV, on advertisements, on fliers, in brochures, everywhere. Yet they forget to mention that you will be turned away from the hospital 99% of the time.