VIDEO: Men seek perinatal support on helpline
A call service for new and expecting parents facing perinatal and infant mental health symptoms has seen a rise in the number of men seeking help.
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News.com.au
32 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘I should be dead': Olympics left USA icon damaged forever
Mary Lou Retton became a true American hero while still a teenager, scooping up a spectacular gold in the individual all-around competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, at age 16. The price of such glories had to be paid later in life, the NY Post reports. 'She couldn't even take a full breath when I talked to her, she takes these little panting breaths,' ex-brother-in-law Shaun Kelley, who remains close to her, told The Post. It's a far cry from when she proudly became the first female athlete to grace a Wheaties box in her Olympic year. Retton, now 57, frequently wears an oxygen cannula, remains on medication, and has undergone many debilitating hip surgeries that have left her struggling physically. An arrest report claimed she reeked of booze, was slurring her words, and had a bottle of wine by her side. Somewhat ironically, she was just two miles from her namesake, Mary Lou Retton Drive, when it happened. Kelley said Retton, who also has a home in Boerne, Texas, continues to undergo treatment for long COVID and lung problems, and he was alarmed by the alleged presence of the wine. 'She is on all these meds and one drink could throw off her brain chemistry,' he claimed, adding that since the incident, from which she quickly bailed out of jail — 'she is healing' and lying low in West Virginia. 'She's a great mother and a giving person, she raised four amazing daughters,' he added, saying he hopes she gets better. He also clarified that Retton has no history of alcohol abuse that he knew of. Retton — whose daughters are all with ex Shannon Kelley, whom she divorced after 27 years of marriage in 2018 — suffered another health scare in 2023 when she contracted 'a very rare form of pneumonia,' according to a post made by her second-oldest daughter, McKenna Kelley. 'Girl, I should be dead,' she told People magazine a year later, describing how she spent a month in the hospital. At one time, doctors told her daughters — Shayla Rae, 30, McKenna, 28, Skyla, 25, and Emma Jean, 22 — 'to come to say their goodbyes.' She pulled through, but was left depleted. 'My lungs are so scarred. It will be a lifetime of recovery. My physicality was the only thing I had, and it was taken away from me. It's embarrassing,' she added to People. Even worse, she had no insurance, saying in another interview with NBC, in which she appeared with an oxygen cannula in her nose, 'I just couldn't afford it,' citing her divorce and the underlying health conditions she had been left with, after 30 orthopedic surgeries. McKenna created an online fundraiser that brought in almost $500,000 from fans, sportspeople, and public figures shocked by how Retton had seemingly fallen on such hard times. McKenna told USA Sports last year her mother started running into money troubles during the COVID pandemic, which limited her ability to earn money 'because she was not able to work and give speeches for two years due to the pandemic.' However, it appears Retton traded an older Porsche for her current one during this same period, getting the newer car in December 2021, according to a Carfax report seen by The Post. Retton had retired from professional gymnastics in 1986, not long after her gold medal triumph. She capitalised on her fame and signed endorsement deals with many products, then became a commentator for NBC at the 1988 Olympics. She wrote a daily column through the 1992 and 1996 Olympics for USA Today and co-hosted a TV show, 'Road To Olympic Gold,' per her USA Gymnastics biography. Retton also tried her hand at movies, appearing in 'Scrooged' in 1988 and 1994's 'Naked Gun 33 1/3' as well as making guest appearances in shows including 'Baywatch' and 'Knots Landing,' plus continuing to take bookings as a motivational speaker and 'fitness ambassador.' Her last high-profile bookings were a 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII commercial and a 2018 stint on 'Dancing With The Stars,' where she finished in ninth place. However, after the goodwill brought in with Retton's pneumonia fundraiser, people began to ask questions. It was pointed out that it's illegal to deny coverage to those with underlying conditions. Others asked where any excess money from the fundraiser, which had originally set its goal at $50,000, went. The family claimed they donated money not used for treatment to the American Lung Association, although the charity said it wouldn't comment on individual donations when contacted by The Post. It also emerged that during her divorce from quarterback-turned-real estate developer Shannon Kelley, she was awarded almost $2 million in cash, according to the Daily Mail, as well as the profits from selling two houses. She was also given a vehicle valued at $43,000, which she later traded in. Retton, who did not respond to requests for comment, also reached an out-of-court settlement with the maker of her metal hip replacements, Biomet, in 2019 for an unknown amount, per the Mail's report. Retton's corporate LLC, which she used for her speaking engagements, is now inactive but she has started new businesses. She formed a company called Forever Our Legacy, described as 'For Mothers & Daughters,' which has run a women's gymnastics competition tour annually since 2022. The Forever Our Legacy competition is planned to take place in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan in February 2026. The event also includes meet-and-greet opportunities with Retton and her daughter, who was also a competitive gymnast. Retton also partnered with a Michigan leotard company in 2023 to sell her own themed leotards, and McKenna sells video messages on Cameo for $100 each. Shaun Kelley also confirmed that Retton is excited to attend her youngest daughter Emma Jean's wedding to former University of Arkansas football star Hudson Clark next month. 'They inspire me, and they do every day,' Retton told People of her four girls. 'They're extraordinary young women and my biggest accomplishment. Take my five medals. I'll take my daughters over that anytime.'
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Mental health support's surging demand puts pressure on Esperance community services
A community service group in regional Western Australia says it and others are buckling under the weight of the town's mental health needs as government service shortages drive severely unwell residents to its doors. For more than 20 years, Chris Meyer has led Esperance Care Services (ECS), which provides food relief, help and a safe space for those doing it tough in the region, 700 kilometres south-east of Perth. But he has never been so worried. "We're under significant pressure at the moment," he said. Mental health support services are in short supply throughout Australia. And in country areas Mr Meyer said people often had nowhere to turn but community service groups who were not equipped to cope. He said ECS was getting three times more requests for assistance than a decade ago, many staff were taking stress leave, and he even had to take out a restraining order against a troubled client. Lynne McCosh, an advocate with ECS, said they had almost nowhere to refer people who needed urgent, immediate help. "When we have people presenting that are in an extremely heightened state, what [do] we do with them right in that instant, in that moment?" she said. Veronica Lavars, better known as "Click", has long sought regular mental health support for her daughter. "Our daughter had her very first psychotic episode when she was 17," she said. "She's now nearly 56 and she lives with us." She said her daughter often saw a GP and was legally required to see a psychiatrist twice a year, due to her medication. Ms Lavars also wanted her to have more regular appointments with a psychologist or psychiatrist, to form a trusted connection. But she said her daughter was recently taken off the waitlist at the state government-run Esperance Community Mental Health facility. "They say that they have a lot of people on their books," Ms Lavars said. "Because our daughter has me as her support person [who is a strong advocate] she no longer needed to be on their books." Mr Meyer said he often tried to put people in contact with Community Mental Health. "But we get zero support." WA Country Health Service's (WACHS) Esperance Community Mental Health facility has two psychiatrists, who visit Esperance up to six days a month from Perth. Two full time equivalent WACHS psychologists service the entire Goldfields region, which has almost 60,000 residents. A small number of psychologists also operate privately in Esperance. The town has a range of counselling services, including CentreCare, Hope Community Services, ESCARE and Headspace. Mr Meyer said the only real option in an emergency was to call the police or take the person to hospital. But he said the Esperance Hospital was often not equipped to help. WACHS said it had around-the-clock access to mental health professionals, via telehealth, who supported emergency department clinicians on treatment and referral options. In a statement, WA Health Minister Meredith Hammat said she heard the community's concerns. She said the Mental Health Commission funded more than $1.4 billion worth of mental health, alcohol and other drug services across the state. Ms Hammat said further funding announcements on mental health for regional West Australians would be made in the state budget, on June 19. "We obviously need to continue to make sure that we grow our mental health services right throughout regional Western Australia," Premier Roger Cook said. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler's spokesperson said it was committed to delivering more than $1 billion for public mental health care and expanding the sector's workforce. Anna Bonney, who works at Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation and is a former youth worker, was also worried about First Nations residents, who make up about 4 per cent of the community. She said racism remained an issue, which could prompt young Aboriginal people to leave school early and make it difficult for them to secure a job, putting pressure on families and the broader community. "The impact and ripple effect from these things is entrenched disengagement." Ms Bonney said many people who decided to seek mental health help soon lost faith, because of long wait times, being "tossed between" different services, or feeling unwelcome. She believed health system decision makers, usually based in capital cities, needed to work harder to meet the needs of individual communities. Mathew Coleman, chair of rural and remote mental health practice at the University of Western Australia, agreed communities should have more control over their mental health systems. "Health organisers and people who resource health systems need to be listening to those local people," Dr Coleman said. Dr Coleman said while some mental health issues had a genetic cause, others were due to social factors, stemming from things like access to education and employment, discrimination and distribution of wealth. "Often in many places, because of the way that industries set up, there are the 'haves' in town and the 'have nots'," he said. But he said small communities were well placed to address those factors. For example, when a person came out of prison, he said, programs could be set up to prevent them relapsing. Other programs could be geared at addressing social exclusion. Esperance Care Services has long been working hard in that area. On a mild Friday night, the smell of fried sausages and onions wafts down the main street, as volunteers cook a meal for anyone who needs it. A small crowd gathers, pulling up chairs with their pets and children to enjoy the food. Mr Meyer just wishes others could see how critical the need for more support has become. "It's probably as hard a time as I've had it in 20 years," he said.
Daily Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
SkinnyTok: How TikTok's latest trend is fuelling a new wave of diet culture
Don't miss out on the headlines from Illness. Followed categories will be added to My News. TikTok has long been a breeding ground for viral trends, but its latest subculture, 'SkinnyTok', is reigniting old diet culture in a digital age. Behind the trendy filters and catchy sounds lies an extremely problematic reality – a community where thinness is idolised, extreme calorie deficits are glamorised, and the pursuit of a shrinking body is celebrated, often at the expense of mental and physical health. The rise of SkinnyTok SkinnyTok refers to a corner of the internet where creators openly document their weight loss journeys, post 'what I eat in a day' videos featuring alarmingly low calorie counts, and share 'bodychecks' (videos where people weigh and measure themselves). Some even boast about 'gaslighting' themselves into being skinny, or confess to daily gym visits out of a fear of being 'fat' – even when they already fit society's narrow beauty standards. TikTok has, for their part, attempted to clamp down on this content. Searching for 'SkinnyTok' now triggers a warning: 'You're not alone' and prompts people to seek help if they're struggling with body image, food or exercise. Influencers like Liv Schmidt, who built a following of over 670,000 with her 'blonde and skinny' persona, have been banned. Yet, the algorithm still seems to serve up the very content it claims to protect users from. So, what can people do to safeguard themselves online? First, you need to understand what SkinnyTok is, how the trend has managed to gain such a huge following and who is the most at risk. The personal toll Jemma Haythorne, a confidence coach, speaker, and podcaster, knows first-hand the damage that online diet culture can do. 'I started hating my body when I was 12 years old, but really spiralled into disordered eating when I was 16. My friends and I would follow skinny content on Tumblr, using it as 'motivation' to eat less to achieve our goals of being thin,' she tells For Ms Haythorne, the pressure peaked during Schoolies, when the prospect of hundreds of Facebook photos led her to subsist on scarily low calories and avoid water to prevent 'bloating' – all ideas she picked up from social media. 'Instagram then became a dangerous place too for someone with body image issues and a fraught relationship with food,' she says, adding that the rise of fitness influencers and 'clean eating' trends was fuel for her already disordered behaviours. Jemma Haythorne says social media contributed to her eating disorder. Picture: Instagram/jaythorne Her lowest point came between 2017 and 2019. 'Social media told me that everyone was thin, gorgeous, tanned, hairless, toned and successful, because that's what the algorithm was serving me, and those were the people who were platformed,' she says. 'The message that I received was that I was failing, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't meet those standards.' Ms Haythorne believes that without social media, she would never have developed an eating disorder, depression, and anxiety to the extent she did. The cyclical nature of online trends She says she has witnessed body ideals shift over the years, from ultra-thin, to athletic and toned, to the 'Kim Kardashian' hourglass, and now back to just 'plain thin'. Despite the rise of the body positivity movement, she's sceptical about its real-world impact: 'The body ideal has always come back to being in a smaller body — something that I desperately hope we can change in the future.' 'SkinnyTok' is a new social media trend amplifying often tabooed discussions around wanting to be skinny. Picture: iStock The influencer effect Influencers and content creators play a massive role in shaping body image perceptions, Ms Haythorne argues. 'Those who post content that encourages unhealthy relationships with food and bodies are directly damaging their audience. SkinnyTok content is incredibly problematic and harmful, and when this becomes trendy, it becomes dangerous, especially for those who don't have the knowledge and understanding of how damaging it is.' But the damage isn't always obvious. Seemingly innocuous 'before and after' photos reinforce the idea that smaller is better, while meal inspiration videos suggest that copying someone's diet will yield the same body. 'Any form of editing of bodies or faces makes people think they need to live up to looking like that in order to be beautiful or worthy, yet the person themselves doesn't even look like that,' she notes. She claims that while platforms like TikTok and Instagram have a responsibility to manage the harm they promote, individual influencers must also be aware of their impact. The psychological impact Psychologist Carly Dober confirms that SkinnyTok can trigger and exacerbate disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders. 'These trends influence how people perceive and evaluate their own bodies, and the bodies of others. Behaviourally, people may self-isolate, which can also impact their work, education and relationships,' she explains. Beyond the psychological impact, the physical consequences are dire too. Eating disorders can harm the heart, digestive system, bones, teeth and mouth. Typical serious side effects include low blood pressure, slow or irregular heartbeats, feeling tired, weak, dizzy, or faint, constipation and bloating, irregular periods, and weak bones. Experts have warned against the dangers of SkinnyTok. Picture: iStock Who's most at risk? According to Ms Dober, certain groups are especially vulnerable to the dangers of SkinnyTok. These include: – Adolescents (especially those aged 12–25) with a median age of 18 – Women during key transition periods (e.g. finishing school) – Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or diabetes – Athletes and those in appearance-focused activities like dancing – People with a family history of eating disorders – Anyone seeking help for weight loss or who has engaged in dieting or disordered eating The role of TikTok's culture Qualified nutritionist Yaz Jackson sees SkinnyTok as part of a broader trend of 'normalising' harmful behaviours on TikTok. She notes that TikTok's culture is different from Instagram's: 'You can 'get away' with more. It's more of a diary, people feel like they can say whatever, and it's lighthearted and nobody judges. I've seen creators say things like 'I could never share this on Insta, they'd judge me, but I can tell you guys''. Ms Jackson believes there's a trend of radical honesty emerging on TikTok, where creators are praised for sharing 'the tea' – the secrets behind their appearance, whether it's the use of medication, diets or cosmetic surgery. Their content is being favoured, as people applaud them for being 'real' and 'not fake' – i.e. unlike the countless models and celebrities who pretend they eat pizza and burgers when the reality is much different. 'This trend then gains traction because when enough people make something okay to talk about again, they feel safer,' she said. 'Things that were once stigmatised, are now being accepted – but only if you are super honest and transparent about it. People love that'. There are things you can do to safeguard your mental health online. Picture: iStock The dangers of unqualified advice Dr Zac, a GP, urges people to exercise caution when seeking health advice online, especially when it comes from unqualified creators. 'Health advice should come from qualified professionals – doctors, registered dietitians, clinical psychologists – people with actual credentials, not just abs and a ring light. If someone's offering drastic weight loss 'hacks' or pushing extreme transformations, especially if they're profiting from it, be wary,' he says. Things to look out for include: 'Are they citing evidence-based sources? Do they promote balance over extremes? Are they championing sustainable health, or quick fixes and aesthetic perfection?' How to safeguard your mental health Ms Dober and Dr Zac recommend several strategies for protecting yourself online: Curate your feed: Block or mute content and creators that promote unhealthy behaviours Use platform tools: Filter out triggering keywords where possible Limit screen time: Reduce endless scrolling to avoid algorithm rabbit holes Follow positive accounts: Such as ones that promote body neutrality, mental health and self-compassion Seek support: If you're struggling, reach out to a psychologist or trusted professional. And as Dr Zac puts it: 'Healing starts when we stop punishing ourselves and start listening to what our body and mind actually need'. Originally published as SkinnyTok: TikTok's latest trend is fuelling a new wave of diet culture
