Lifeline Central West CEO Stephanie Robinson talks mental health

Stephanie Robinson is the CEO of Lifeline Central West and said she still gets asked not to broach the topic from time to time.

"I will get asked to go speak at events and they'll go, 'just don't talk about suicide'. It needs to shift," she said.

"I know that it's difficult and it's in my world everyday, but not talking about it doesn't make sense when we're losing this number of people unnecessarily every year in this country. Something is wrong and we need to do more to change those numbers."

According to the NSW Ministry of Health, from January 1 2022, to June 30, 2022, there were 492 suspected deaths by suicide recorded in NSW, compared with 464 suspected suicide deaths recorded during the same period in 2021, 421 recorded in 2020, and 430 in 2019.

Those same figures showed that around three-quarters of suspected deaths by suicide were among males and more than half of all suspected deaths by suicide occurred among those aged between 25 and 54. Despite the overall rise in suspected suicides, the figure for those aged between 18 and 24 has decreased in recent years, going from 108 in 2019, 95 in 2020 to 80 in 2021, with 35 deaths by suicide between January 1 and June 30 for 2022.

"It's been a very challenging time for everyone, but for our regions more so than cities I think," Ms Robinson said.

"We've obviously faced incredible challenges through the drought, flood, fire, COVID and the mouse plague; it really has been a rollercoaster and over that time, I have seen a bit of a change in attitudes towards mental health and the struggles of people.

"I think COVID has actually been a time where in some ways, because it touched everybody, I think people who had never really thought about mental health issues or trauma, for the first time actually experienced that feeling of not being in control, that fear of the unknown."

But while the topic of mental health itself has become more prevalent in day-to-day life, the stigma is still there for many.

Ms Robinson believes that for young people especially, the challenges they have to face are unparalleled.

"It's a pretty complex world to navigate and for a lot of people, they're put under a lot of pressure with expectations," she said.

"They get bombarded through all different social media and platforms, they're influenced by so many more things than back in my day. Back then, you go to school and you navigated it and of course there were tough times and there were bullies, but at the end of the day you were kind of safe.

"If somebody wanted to bully you, they'd have to go through that home phone. There wasn't the access to people like there is now. Technology is brilliant in so many ways, but when used for the wrong reasons, it can be really difficult because it's hard to escape."

Lifeline offers services ranging from gambling and financial counselling, to running workshops within schools.

But it is the crisis support services - such as 13 11 14 and 13 YARN - for which Ms Robinson is most proud of.

"Sometimes people still think of them as just suicide prevention, but they're really about crisis support," she said.

"So whatever is a crisis for someone there are people there to support them."

Having been a counsellor prior to her time with Lifeline, Ms Robinson knows just what it is like to deal with someone in crisis.

But it's that frontline experience which has helped her learn it takes more than just one person to support someone.

"What is just as important is really equipping and educating the community about how they can respond and support people during crisis," she said.

"We often have this expectation that people are able to reach out and they should reach out during those times. It's great if they can, but for many people, that ask is simply too big. They're exhausted and overwhelmed, so the thought of having to navigate services and put their hand up for help can be overwhelming.

"It's my belief that if we can have communities, workplaces and schools full of people who are willing to reach out and have an understanding of what to say, we're going to change those numbers."