There could not be a worse time for the National Mental Health Commission to be in disarray - but here we are. Rates of suicide are again on the rise after a brief pause during the pandemic, Australians are experiencing soaring rates of psychological distress - and we can't even get to see general practitioners for help because there are too many of us and not enough of them.
Generation X is running the country - and they are the ones most at risk from suicide.
Now we are a few days out from the federal budget and the commission, meant to provide evidence and advice on ways to "continuously improve Australia's mental health and suicide prevention system" and act for change is not doing any of those those things.
What are we getting? Utter chaos. The government agency responsible, headed by the Morrison government's former national suicide prevention adviser Christine Morgan, is being independently investigated, following reports of alleged bullying and internal dysfunction.
The Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler announced the investigation into the culture and function of the commission in late April. Morgan has stepped aside.
It's been two years since the Morrison government budgeted for the establishment of the National Suicide Prevention Office, now headed by former adviser to the previous government's health minister Greg Hunt Michael Gardner. We are no better off.
Here is where we are now. Mr Butler has too much on his plate to manage every aspect and insiders say he is still thinking about mental health services the way he did when he was the relevant minister more than 10 years ago.
A capable assistant minister for mental health Emma McBride is not in cabinet. Multiple suicide prevention services have no way to stay in good touch with the people handing out the money.
Honestly, the most frightening statistic of all the frightening statistics to do with suicide is this: around half of those who take their own lives have had no contact with a mental health service in the 12 months before their death.
No contact with anyone who might have been able to help them. In fact, one in 10 has had no contact with a health service of any kind. This tells me we need to have other ways to intervene. Men seek health services less than women and young men, 15 to 24, seek out a health service least of all.
New research from Deakin University says around half of those who take their own lives never ever talked about their suicidal thoughts to anyone.
Think about it this way. We lost more than 30,000 Australians to suicide in the decade up to 2021. And the suicide monitoring team at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says there has been a concerning uptick in the rate of suicide among middle-aged men in the 2022 calendar year and a similar concerning rise of attempted suicide among young women.
That's on top of the rate of intentional self-harm hospitalisations among young women nearly doubling over 12 years, to nearly 700 girls between 15 and 19 per 100,000 of our population.
Now the people at AIHW tell me there has been a significant increase in the number of Australians experiencing extreme psychological stress compared to pre-COVID data.
I've known Marc Bryant for years now. He's the director of suicide prevention at LivingWorks. And this week, amid the National Suicide Prevention conference held in Canberra, he reveals that he too had suicidal thoughts and that someone he knew helped him turn him around - it was, he says, a first aid intervention.
He's deeply concerned about how money is allocated across the sector - as is every single person I spoke at the conference and elsewhere.
The loudest voices get the most money. Yes, they need it too. Clinicians clearly need support. But we have not enough doctors and not enough ways to support and help those with suicidal thoughts. We need to make new discoveries in suicide prevention if we are going to save lives.
Nieves Murray, the chief executive of Suicide Prevention Australia, says we urgently need a whole-of-nation approach - and she's asking for just $300,000. Not for her own organisation but for the exploration of a suicide prevention act so that government must look at every single action it takes through the lens of how it might impact rates of suicide.
READ MORE:
Yes, the sector needs immediate action to fund front-line services which, as the folks at AIHW tell me, are currently experiencing the highest levels of distress in our recorded history. And yes, we urgently need what she calls aftercare, funding for the services who support those who survive.
Bryant of LivingWorks says his organisation trains people to recognise signs and to intervene. Think of them as the safety wardens on each of the floors of our workplaces. Or think of them as lifeguards on the beach. It's not just LivingWorks trying new ways. Sanderson Onie, a researcher from from the Black Dog Institute, says his team worked out ways to deliver hope instead of horror for those searching the word suicide on the internet.
"We spend 40 hours a week on the internet and we need to go where people are - there is just not enough support for the incidental help-seeking from non-professionals," he said.
He and his team devised a page which would pop up in response to a search - filled with help. And people were clicking on the links and staying on them at about seven times the rate of a normal search.
We can only hope that's life saving.
- Jenna Price is a regular columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. PhoneLifeline 13 11 14; beyondblue 1300 224 636.
Jenna Price is a Canberra Times columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
Jenna Price is a Canberra Times columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
