Lucy Carter reported this story on Monday, June 6, 2016 12:50:00

KIM LANDERS: Breaking down the stigma associated with mental health conditions has been a focus of many charities and mental health groups for well over a decade in Australia.



But is the message actually getting through?



A new survey indicates that more than half of 12 to 24 year olds with a mental health issue are still too embarrassed to talk about it with anyone.



And that means that they are also too afraid to seek help, even from a doctor.



Lucy Carter reports.



LUCY CARTER: Melbourne man Nick Pearce finished high school in 2012.



Like many 18-year-olds, he was feeling a bit lost and confused about his future. Then he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder.



NICK PEARCE: Cleaning my room five or six or seven times a day, and absolutely to perfection. Like it was just so consuming and you know ended up not seeing my friends and that kind of stuff because I felt like having to clean my room was more important.



LUCY CARTER: Mr Pearce struggled greatly about whether or not to tell his friends.



NICK PEARCE: I actually remember vividly having a conversation with my parents discussing whether or not I was comfortable to actually disclose this to friends and family.



And we had a discussion, you know, we can probably, if you don't want to talk about it, we can do some things to ensure that no-one sort of finds out about it.



LUCY CARTER: It's a situation a huge number of young Australians find themselves in.



A survey of over 2,000 12 to 24 year olds has revealed that the stigma around mental health still well and truly exists.



Dr Natalie Gray is the chief medical officer at youth mental health charity Headspace.



NATALIE GRAY: Fifty-two per cent said that they were too embarrassed to talk to anybody, and this is obviously incredibly worrying and what we found was that it wasn't just young people who had already experienced mental health issues that felt this way, but about of quarter of young people who had never experienced mental health issues thought that if they ever did, they wouldn't tell anyone.



And about 22 per cent said that they wouldn't even tell their doctor.



I think that in order to really break down stigma, we need to do more than just talk about it. What we need to do after that is really give young people good examples of others that they can relate to.



LUCY CARTER: Headspace is today launching a campaign to specifically bring awareness to mental health stigma.



In Melbourne's Southern Cross Railway station, a stigma installation is being built that people can physically tear down to discover ways to get help for mental health issues.



Dr Gray says online resources are also being ramped up.



NATALIE GRAY: The place that young people can approach initially anonymously and then as they get more confident, potentially give more and more details about themselves.



And what we find with e-Headspace is that 75 per cent of the young people who log on, it's the very first time they have sought help from anyone.



And they do that because they see it as almost a safe or soft option.



LUCY CARTER: Nick Pearce eventually found a way to talk to his mates about his OCD. He says it's the best decision he could have made.



NICK PEARCE: I guarantee the people that do that, it's not what you think it is. We might rock up to beers on a Friday night and I’ll be like ‘oh, I just came from a psychologist’, and they’ll be like ‘oh yeah, how’d it go, you seem good’, and all that kind of stuff.



So yeah, just have far better faith being able to do that I think.



KIM LANDERS: Twenty-two-year-old Nick Pearce ending Lucy Carter's report.