Topic Warning: This article includes references to suicide and mental-health struggles. If you or someone you know needs support, help is available: Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.
The latest ABS figures are harrowing. In 2024, 3,307 Australians died by suicide. Suicide remains the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 44, and the leading cause of premature mortality nationwide, accounting for 107,327 years of potential life lost (YPLL) in a single year.
Read the ABS report: Intentional self-harm (suicide) deaths
On average, each person who died lost 34.4 years of life they should have lived.
These numbers are confronting — but what’s more troubling is how closely they reflect what we see here in the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston communities.
For many of us, this issue is not distant.
It isn’t for me. I have lost people I care about, and I have personally navigated suicidal thoughts during a difficult period in my life. Those experiences make it impossible to read the data as merely statistical. Every number represents someone who mattered — and someone who should still be here.
Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Higher than State and National Averages
While suicide affects every part of the country, the ABS notes that three-quarters of all deaths occurred in NSW, Victoria and Queensland — the most populous states.
Victoria’s burden is reflected sharply here locally:
- Frankston recorded a suicide rate of 15.5 deaths per 100,000 people in the 2023 Health and Wellbeing Profile — significantly higher than the Victorian average.
- Mornington Peninsula Shire is also above both state and national averages, with its 2025 Health and Wellbeing Profile explicitly identifying suicide as an area requiring urgent attention.
These are not outliers; they are indicators of a system that is struggling.
Across both the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston, frontline services consistently report:
- Long waiting times for psychologists, counsellors and psychiatrists
- More complex presentations among young people and adults
- Housing and rental stress contributing to mental-health strain
- Financial pressure affecting families and individuals
- Transport barriers limiting access to support, especially in semi-rural areas
- Community organisations filling gaps where formal services are unavailable
These pressures don’t “cause” suicide — but they undeniably shape the environment people are trying to navigate.
A system stretched — and policy settings that aren’t helping yet
Mental-health services across the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston are doing everything they can, but capacity is not keeping up with demand.
One of the most contentious policy changes was the Federal Government’s decision to reduce Medicare-subsidised psychology sessions from 20 to 10 per year. The cut was introduced during a period of rising distress, and clinicians, consumer groups and patients have warned it has made care less accessible for those who need consistent, long-term support.
In response, the Government has committed $1 billion to expand free mental-health services, including new Medicare Mental Health Centres and additional headspace sites. These investments will help — but the majority of the funding is scheduled for future financial years.
People struggling now cannot wait several years for services to catch up.
Prevention must be more than a slogan
If we are serious about preventing suicide, we must do more than respond at the point of crisis. Prevention requires early intervention, environments that reduce pressure rather than intensify it, and systems that make it possible — not difficult — for people to seek help before things reach breaking point.
A meaningful approach to prevention recognises that mental health does not exist in isolation. Housing stress, debt, job insecurity, social isolation, trauma, and the day-to-day cost of living all play a part in how people cope. Unless these broader factors are addressed, we will continue to see people falling into crisis faster than services can respond.
Understanding the barriers to getting help
Many people facing suicidal thoughts or mental distress never receive the support they need — and often the obstacles are not what we expect.
Even in progressive settings, admitting mental-health struggles can feel like risk. It might mean time off work, questions from colleagues, pressure from family, or fear of being labelled “weak”.
For someone trying to stay employed, maintain income and support dependents, the decision to seek help is never just a health choice — it’s a financial, professional and personal one.
Then there are other reasons like living too far from a major hub can mean the difference between having support and not.
And others simply have tried seeking help before and found it unhelpful: dismissals, mis-diagnosis, long waits, impersonal services, feeling judged and humiliated. That experience becomes its own barrier — why start again if the first attempt felt futile?
Financial protection during treatment and recovery
A key barrier that I have not seen talked about are the financial implications of suffering from mental health issues. No one can focus on getting well while worrying about rent, bills or job security.
Financial stress should never deter someone from seeking help.
Yet it is.
I’ve seen firsthand how damaging this pressure can be.
I once knew a man who lived with severe mental-health challenges. He was admitted to the Frankston Hospital’s mental-health ward several times, and clinicians strongly recommended he spend a number of weeks at a Prevention and Recovery Care (PARC) service. It was the right option clinically — a structured, stabilising program designed to help people break the cycle of crisis.
But he worked full-time, was married and had two young children.
The idea of stepping away from work, even temporarily, brought enormous financial fear.
Who would cover the rent? How would the household cope? What would happen at his job?
So he delayed it.
He improved for a while, then fell back into crisis. And the cycle repeated — getting better, getting worse, regaining footing, then slipping again.
Eventually, he would succumb to his troubles, and he is no longer with us today.
Leaving behind his wife and two children.
I don’t share this lightly; however, I want to illustrate the reality many people face: the mental-health system often expects people to prioritise recovery in circumstances where doing so is economically impossible. And that gap — between what is clinically recommended and what is practically feasible — is where people fall through.
Consistent, long-term funding across all levels of government
Services operating in the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston — including Lifeline, 13YARN, headspace, Peninsula Health, community centres and neighbourhood houses — need stable funding that reflects real community demand.
Right now, many frontline services are doing more with less. They rely on short-term grants, stretched budgets, and staff working beyond capacity. This instability has a direct effect on the people they’re trying to support:
- Longer waitlists
- Reduced program hours
- Fewer outreach options
- Limited follow-up support
- Higher pressure on emergency departments
Consistent funding means services can hire permanent staff, run programs year-round, and invest in prevention instead of reacting to crisis after crisis. When governments treat mental health as something to be “patched” rather than sustained, the cracks inevitably widen — and people fall through.
Long-term funding is not just an administrative need. It is a life-saving necessity.
A community-wide response
Suicide prevention is too large, too complex, and too important to rest on the shoulders of clinicians alone.
Schools play a critical role because young people often show early signs of distress in the classroom or playground. Sporting clubs and youth groups see patterns of behaviour long before they become emergencies. Workplaces are often the first to notice changes in mood, attendance, or performance. Councils shape the environments people live in — transport access, community programs, housing policy, neighbourhood connectedness — all of which influence wellbeing.
Families, friends and neighbours are equally important. The most effective suicide prevention networks are built around small, everyday interactions: checking in, listening properly, and recognising when someone is withdrawing or not themselves.
No single service can prevent suicide.
But a whole community, working together, can.
The Mornington Peninsula and Frankston communities are resilient and deeply connected. But resilience alone cannot counter the pressures people are facing.
We can all play a part:
- Check in early.
- Listen without judgement.
- Normalise mental-health conversations.
- Advocate for better funding and services.
- Encourage help-seeking long before crisis point.
Above all, remember that prevention starts with connection — and connection is something every one of us can offer.
Information:
If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available 24/7:
Lifeline 13 11 14 or Text 0477 131 114
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: 13YARN 13 92 76
