Former ABC presenter Craig Hamilton first spoke out about mental health in 2004. Twenty years later, he is still at it. Now he's talking about suicide as well, and how an overwhlemed system is failing us.
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"We have danced around suicide for too long," he told the Newcastle Herald's Damon Cronshaw. "It's a subject no one wants to talk about."
It comes after the Herald reported in March that the Hunter New England health district recorded 1331 suicides from 2012 to 2021 - the most in NSW. Our district's rate of 14 suicides per 100,000 people was above the NSW rate of 10.5 and the national rate of 12.3.
Mr Hamilton said the statistics were "shocking", and he backed calls for more "adequately resourced Safe Havens".
The Herald has been reporting extensively on the mental health and suicide issue in recent months, reflecting a growing need for people to get the help they require.
We're campaigning for the NSW government's Safe Haven program to expand.
Newcastle's Safe Haven is open only three days a week for five hours a day. With our higher-than-average suicide rate, this is simply not good enough.
Our devastated community had a strong reaction to the Herald's reports in March on the suicide of Stockton's Kahi Simon at age 20. His family, along with the Black Dog Institute have called for 24-7 Safe Havens.
It is a call backed by other experts too. Hunter Medical Research Institute CEO Frances Kay-Lambkin said this week that expanded Safe Havens for people in crisis would take pressure off emergency departments.
"The evidence suggests that if you can invest in Safe Havens, then it significantly reduces emergency department presentations for mental health," she said. "That makes EDs cheaper to run, so the money you save pays for the Safe Havens."
With spiralling pressures on communities, from cost-of-living and housing crises, to increased costs of GP visits, people are at a loss as to what to do when the world gets the better of them.
There is help out there, but we must call on our leaders to better support the services that help people in their darkest hour.
Expanding Safe Havens in a health district with a clear, desperate need, a health district recording the highest number of suicides in this state, would be a good place to start.
Lisa Allan, editor
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
