This is where - we're at Derby Cemetery - my oldest son that
took his life through suicide 24 years ago. His name was Thomas,
but his nickname was Porky.
It's been almost a quarter of a century since Glenys. Benning's
son took his own life, but she's still reliving his final hours
trying to understand why he did what he did.
Then I reflect and I think about all the signs that was there
that day. He cooked my favourite dinner. He went in to draw his
last money. We had a heart on heart talk in my room. But
little did I know he had his own plans on what he was doing a
where he was going.
His son Thomas was just 24 years old when he died. Not long
before he'd split with the mother of his young son and
sought treatment for drug use. But Glenys says he seemed to be
doing okay. It was in the middle of the night when a relative
woke her with the news.
I thought I was dreaming, you know. I was half asleep. And he
stood there just kept repeating himself. And then I just went
into shock. Couldn't go outside. Stayed in my room maybe thinking
I was dreaming. I don't know. I still don't know.
24 years later, she's scared that history is at risk of
repeating. Her grandson, Thomas's son, has also been in
distress, struggling with substance abuse and threatening
self harm.
And I caught tears in his eyes and he was at breaking point.
Glenys took the 31-year-old to the local hospital emergency
department. But she says they were shunted between units and
staff seemed reluctant to take him into care.
Do my grandson need to be rolling around on the ED floor
or screaming or get handcuffed by the police? Then he gets
admitted in? Do we have to go to that extreme to get help? What
does it have to take when someone is talking saying that
he wants to kill himself. To make that staff member realise
that he wants help, instead of showing the door.
in a statement, the WA Country Health Service has said it's
reviewed the case and found no evidence of shortcomings in the
care provided. And it's emphasised that staff would
never release someone from care who's at immediate risk of self
harm. It's also offered to meet with the family to discuss their
concerns. Glenys ended up caring for her grandson at home while
the family tried to get him into a residential drug
rehabilitation program interstate.
For the five days he was here before he caught his plane, we
were on suicide watch. Because of what he was saying he wanted
to do to himself. I looked after him here in home. I gave him my
bedroom. I had a nephew and my son keeping an eye on him.
When the ABC visits Glenys is looking forward to her daily
chat with her grandson, now midway through a three-month
program helping him work through addiction issues and past
trauma.
Just checking how you been?
Yeah, yeah, been good.
Been good. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just so happy that you are there now
getting help for yourself.
They just need to do something about when people go and ask for
help. They treat people a bit better.
Glenys is relieved he's doing better.
Okay, now then I'll hang up, and ring you again anytime during
Yeah. Alright. See you love you.
the week.
Love you nan. Bye.
Every year, around 3,000 Australians die by suicide and
there’s concerns the population’s entering a
high-risk period, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So, what we've seen in the last 10 years prior to the pandemic
was that we saw the rate was slowly starting to creep up And
then I think to the surprise of many of us in the sector, what
we saw was a flattening out of those rates during the pandemic.
What we are seeing now though, with increasing financial
pressures on people and families, is a concerning rise
in some of those rates in different states.
Historical data shows suicides often increase in the years
following major international events like world wars,
depressions and pandemics. So have we got any better at
preventing suicide and self harm?
Professor Fiona Shand says there are many elements involved, such
as community prevention programs, crisis response,
mental health services, and addressing broader social
problems like gambling and housing stress.
We're doing much better in Australia than we were, I think,
in terms of making sure that people are getting better
support at that crisis point. I think we also need to be
stepping back from that and saying, What are we doing about
access to high quality mental health and that's an area where
I think we're struggling a bit, lots of waitlists to see
psychologists and psychiatrists, sometimes it's unaffordable for
people. So I think that's an area where we can do better.
She says the science of stopping suicide is a relatively new
field of study. But progress is being made. A holistic suicide
prevention program called Lifespan has been trialed at
four sites. And Professor Shand says the results are promising
so far.
At the moment, we're just wrapping up the analysis of the
Lifespan Suicide Prevention Trial. And we've found some some
quite positive outcomes in terms of changes in rates of self harm
and suicide attempts in the four sites. So we're really
encouraged by that. I suppose we did learn from that as well in
terms of where to from here. So I think what we'd say is that we
need to also be addressing some of those higher-order factors
like unemployment, like housing, alcohol, policy, gambling policies.
Change can't come too soon for people like Glenys Benning, who
dread the funerals that continue to be held for young people in
her community
It's normalised. You're going into a funeral. That's just a
funeral. It's just like normalised now, you know. As if,
it's like that person died in a car accident or was sick. It
took me about 10 years to talk about it. Before I first started
going public and talking about my . . . I held it for about 10
years before I talked to someone like a counsellor.
This is one of my favourite places I bring my grandchildren.
It's very serene, very peaceful.
There has been good news for the family since the ABC wrapped up
filming Glenys's grandson is doing well. He completed three
months in drug rehab and has told the ABC he's excited about
starting a new job on the mines. But the Nyikina, Bunuba and
Gooniyandi elder is haunted by how close she came to losing
him.
I would want the system to change to make it more
accessible and more understanding. I think people
who when we rock up to an ED or mental health to be more
compassionate.