His friend Connor Hogan tragically lost his life from a medication overdose in early 2022. His death has opened the floodgates in shining a new light on the appalling lack of mental health support throughout New South Wales. Connor, who has schizophrenia, was a patient at the Queanbeyan Mental Health Service. There, he had outpatient treatment and went on a pill-in-a-bottle, intravenous medication. After being considered stable, he was sent home on oral medications. What Carolyn Hogan saw lacking was any kind of continued assistance once her son was discharged. She holds this absence of support responsible for his deterioration.
The systemic challenges that Connor experienced are a familiar story to most patients and families in the mental health system. She spent more than twenty years fighting through clinical depression and borderline personality disorder. Along the way, she’s met with other challenges getting consistent psychiatric care — from her transition to adulthood, on. Over 180 public health psychiatrists are slated to quit this coming January. This new wave of resignations underscores how intolerable the situation has become from bad working conditions.
A Mother’s Heartbreak
The facts of Connor Hogan’s tragic death have placed Connor’s family in a position of experiencing both deep pain and anger. After he was discharged from Queanbeyan Mental Health Service, Carolyn Hogan felt as if her son was abandoned without crucial support.
“There is nothing, you are just discharged into the ether,” – Carolyn Hogan
Connor had previously responded well to treatment but then stopped taking his medication, resulting in recurrent psychotic episodes. As she recalls, she can still picture the moment her heart dropped. In that awful moment, she realized that during the storm, the emergency department was her son’s only choice.
“He may as well have been given a loaded gun,” – Carolyn Hogan
Carolyn’s fears are an indication of a larger, systemic problem. It’s unrealistic to expect individuals with acute mental health needs to manage their care on their own once discharged from facilities. She emphasizes that emergency services aren’t able to provide the specialized care that patients like Connor need.
“It is entirely inappropriate for the staff who are not trained for these scenarios, or for the patients which require specialised attention,” – Carolyn Hogan
The shock of losing Connor has galvanized Carolyn and others to advocate for better mental health services through the Crusade for Connor, aiming to prevent similar tragedies.
Ongoing Struggles in Mental Health Care
Jane’s story paints the picture of the desperation that so many patients feel when navigating America’s mental health care system. Even with such a long history of treatment, she has experienced access barriers to continuous psychiatric care. Jane described her anger at being denied the ability to get continuous care from a psychiatrist.
“I ended up paying $800 for a one-hour video consult, of which I received $245 back on Medicare,” – Jane
She has resorted to financial whipsawing to keep her lights on. For example, she withdrew an early payment via Centrelink on her disability support pension to pay for care. Jane reports that the disruption to her care has left her feeling pushed to the margins of the system.
“It feels like I am being pushed out of the system,” – Jane
Dr. Park, a mental health counselor working with Jane, emphasized the importance of continuity in treatment for patients who rely on medication to remain stable.
“It is really dangerous if you need medication to remain stable but are unable to access it,” – Dr. Park
Without the right kind of follow-up care, patients can find themselves in dangerous circumstances. As a consequence, they may choose to abandon their course of treatment altogether.
Systemic Failures and Future Investments
The concerns raised by Connor and Jane are symptomatic of wider systemic failings across mental health services in New South Wales. Dr. Park raised a very important concern. When patients go through the emergency departments, they receive immediate short-term interventions but lack the continued long-term care and support.
“She can access a very short-term mental health intervention after a presentation to emergency, but it’s not an ongoing thing,” – Dr. Park
This gap in continuity can leave patients at risk and uncertain regarding their treatment regimen. Staff shortages that the agency expects to experience only compound the problem. Ian Korbel noted that they were 30 percent understaffed with data specialists even before the recent resignations.
The New South Wales state government has stepped up to stop this dangerous trend. They’ve committed at least $3.1 billion for new mental health care facilities in 2025-26. This sizeable investment is a step towards addressing these systemic barriers. At the same time, families like Carolyn’s and Jane’s are working hard to demand real-time changes in how mental health care is delivered.
