Darwin forum calls for better support for people at risk of suicide
In Darwin, Australia, participants in a suicide prevention forum called on healthcare workers to respond more attentively to requests from families and improve access to mental health services. One of the event’s participants was Gertrude Jane-Knight, who spoke about her attempts to find support for her son Felix before his death last year.
As ABC News Australia reports, Jane-Knight said she tried to book her son in with psychologists but encountered a lack of available appointments or refusals. According to her, after Felix’s first suicide attempt at the age of 12, she was repeatedly told that there was “nothing wrong” with her son.
Felix died on November 3 last year. He would have turned 17 this year. His friends and family held a memorial walk, describing him as an energetic, creative and cheerful person.
Problems in the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory has Australia’s highest rates of suicide, acute mental illness and hospital presentations for self-harm. In 2024, serious risks to staff and patients were identified at the youth mental health facility at Royal Darwin Hospital. Mental health workers also say that prevention and early intervention services are unable to keep up with high demand.
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Jane-Knight called on medical workers to listen to people seeking help for their loved ones and direct them more effectively to appropriate services.
Support for remote communities
Forum co-host Karin Moyle, founder of Waterlily Healing Indigenous Corporation, said that many Indigenous people in remote areas of the Northern Territory experience the combined effects of premature deaths, intergenerational trauma and poverty. According to her, mental health services there are often reduced to formal procedures, while temporary staff do not have time to gain the trust of local residents.
Lydia Di Lembo, who founded the non-profit organisation Sabrina’s Reach4Life with her husband after the death of their 19-year-old daughter in 2017, stressed the need to train general practitioners to work with people experiencing suicidal thoughts. She also called for people with their own experience of such crises to be involved in shaping future policy.
