Subsidised mental health services slashed as Victorian suicides peak

Suicides in Victoria have risen to a five-year high amid rising cost of living pressures — but the government is slashing subsidised mental health sessions.

Victorian suicide rates have hit a horror record.

Suicides in Victoria are at a horror five-year high, with at least 686 deaths so far this year.

The number accounts for Victorians who took their own lives from January 1 to November 30 this year, so does not include any suicides over the Christmas period.

It compares to 638 deaths last year in the same time frame, 637 in 2020, 634 in 2019 and 635 in 2018.

The rise in deaths comes as the federal government slashes the number of subsidised mental health sessions available to people seeking help by half from January 1, in a move that has been widely condemned by psychologists and doctors.

Despite fears Victoria’s harsh Covid lockdowns would lead to suicide surges, the latest Coroner’s Court data reveals more Victorians have died this year than during the worst of the pandemic, with psychologists pointing to rising cost of living pressures and natural disasters as possible contributing factors.

Friends and family gather for the funeral of Ballarat suicide victim, Rohan Cosgriff, 17, at St Patrick's Cathedral in August.

The figures, released this month, show 512 Victorian males have died by suicide so far this year, compared to 474 last year and in 2020.

And 174 females have taken their own lives, up from 164 in 2021 and 163 in 2020.

The highest proportion of suicides was in the male 45 to 54 year-old age group, with 109 deaths – up from 89 last year.

Female suicides in the same age bracket almost doubled on last year, rising from 23 last year to 37 this year.

The report shows 66 per cent of deaths occurred in metropolitan Melbourne.

But while a smaller 34 per cent of suicides took place in regional Victoria, the Ballarat community has been rocked by a spate of sudden deaths this year, including at least five teenagers.

The tragic deaths included that of talented teen sportsman and St Patrick’s College student Rohan Cosgriff, 17, who took his own life in late July, apprentice Nick Watts, 16, who died in August and his girlfriend Bridie Cocks, 15, who died just weeks later.

Earlier this year, St Patrick’s College also lost physical education teacher James Petrie, 33, to suicide.

Rohan Cosgriff, 17, was a talented sportsman.

Bridie Cocks, 15, and her boyfriend Nick Watts, 16, both took their own lives this year.

Psychologists are calling on the Albanese government to urgently reverse its decision to cut subsidised mental health sessions from 20 to 10.

“Given the devastating impact of the pandemic, regular natural disasters, increasing levels of mental ill health and unprecedented demand, this decision is denying people the level of mental health care they so desperately need,” Australian Association of Psychologists executive director Tegan Carrison said.

Australian Psychological Society (APS) president Catriona Davis-McCabe said rationing subsidised sessions was like rationing essential drugs.

“Just as people shouldn’t be asked to ration vital medicines like insulin, they shouldn’t have to ration mental health care,” she said.

“Removing a key affordability measure as people struggle with the cost of Christmas and the sharply rising cost of living will be too much for too many.”

Ballarat school teacher James Petrie, 33, died by suicide earlier this year. Picture: Supplied

In October this year the APS’s Tamara Cavenett said more people were presenting to clinicians with concerns around rising cost of living and fear of an uncertain future.

Governments needed to do more to support people struggling with their mental health and at risk of suicide, she said.

Health Minister Mark Butler has defended the cuts saying a review found the funding boost for subsidised sessions during Covid had caused waitlists to balloon and reduced access for new patients.

Originally published as Subsidised mental health services slashed as Victorian suicides peak