Ten years ago I sat in the backyard with a mother and talked about how we would share the story of her son's suicide to his community.
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A decade later, I was heartbroken again by her story, as she bravely tried to hold a memorial and raise funds for youth mental health on Sunday.
I talked with another mother on the weekend about her son's mental health just before he died last week and how he told her would seek help ... tragically three days too late.
The time for talk and raising awareness of mental health is gone.
We are well and truly beyond it, I believe.
We need services, funding, programs and hands-on work, not just words and logos.
I'm not saying we don't need to have the conversation about mental health issues.
I'm asking, no, begging, we have the conversation coupled with services and education (be it wider social, be it formally-based, maybe a compulsive school subject?)
We've got multiple associations promoting mental health and suicide prevention.
We have Beyond Blue, Headspace, Reachout, the Black Dog Institute, bullying programs, the list goes on.
We've got work place policies, National Mental Health Month, R U OK? Day, ribbons and ABC programs, social media and pamphlets galore.
More than 5,000 people saw our story on the Gavin Grant Memorial day via our Facebook page, more than 2,000 people bought Friday's paper which also featured it, yet only 20 people committed in person to help on Sunday.
The talk and the likes need to translate to more REAL help.
It was so heartening to read a $5,000 donation from the Cowra Masons will help bring more psychologists to Cowra, but we need to commit to more action and more services.
I remember feeling powerless as a reader admitted she had mental health issues and struggled to find help locally.
So don't just talk about it. Act upon it. Push for more services. Push for more community workers, counsellors, doctors, experts.
Support Lifeline - like Maddie and Will Gay - its services are accessible no matter where you are in Australia.
Don't just 'like' something on Facebook, physically hold out your hand to someone.
Because after a decade of talking, we're ready to move beyond. The tragedy is not that death happens, it is that the deaths continue to happen.
janine.finlayson@fairfaxmedia.com.au
