Tom Elliott shares a personal story that only adds to his concerns about mental health during lockdown

Tom Elliott has been extremely concerned about the mental health of Victorians in lockdown for some time now.

Those concerns were only compounded overnight when he found out an old friend had died suddenly.

It’s not yet clear how he died.

“I last spoke with him a few weeks ago and it was clear, to me, that he was struggling with lockdown,” Tom Elliott said.

Tom spoke with Matt Defina, Head of Programs at The Man Cave, on Monday.

He said there was no doubt demand for mental health services was high due to the economic, social and personal impacts of the lockdown.

The number of overall hospital admissions for self-harm in the past six weeks is up 9.5 per cent.

Matt Defina also shared some tips on how to cope, or help somebody you’re worried about, during the pandemic.

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