Rural mental health crisis: The NSW Riverina region’s startling suicide rate

It was an ordinary Saturday afternoon in 2025 when a gunshot rang out through the bustling plaza of a small New South Wales town.

It wasn’t until later that locals learnt a young man had stood in front of the shopping centre and taken his own life in front of horrified witnesses.

“Please be kind to each other,” residents urged one another across community social media pages in the hours after the tragedy.

Six hours away from Sydney and nestled in the Riverina region is the town of Griffith, best known for its lucrative wine business and booming agricultural sector.

With an estimated population of just under 50,000, the town produces over 75 per cent of the state’s wine grapes, 70 per cent of citrus and 90 per cent of Australia’s rice.

At first glance, the town looks like something out of a children’s book – historical sandstone buildings, leafy streets and beloved bakeries.

But beneath the surface, locals say a devastating issue has taken hold.

From 2020 to 2024, 133 people died by suicide in the wider Riverina area.

The region has a suicide rate of 14.7 deaths per 100,000 people, above the national average of 12.2 per 100,000.

According to Suicide Prevention Australia, the rates of suicide in remote and very remote areas of the country are at their highest, between 20.5 and 24.6 per 100,000, compared to 9.9-10.9 in major cities.

Over the past three months, news.com.au has travelled to Griffith, Central Queensland and the Glenelg Shire in Victoria as part of an investigation into Australia’s rural mental health crisis.

Residents of these troubled regions have painted a picture of systemic failure within Australia’s mental health system, describing a lack of services, non-existent funding and isolation, which they feel are some of the driving factors of their high suicide rates.

‘Our boys are dying’

In 2020, Griffith lost five teenage boys in less than a year to suicide.

Former teacher and psychologist Jenna Woodland recalled a dark cloud hanging over the town that year.

“I never want to experience that again, I could feel the pain everywhere in the town,” she told news.com.au.

Ms Woodland is a local mother herself, and knows all too well the battle that comes with accessing mental health support.

“We have to travel 600 kilometres to access services and take time off work. It costs 1000 bucks everytime you leave here,” she said.

“The local services are so difficult to staff here. You could be waiting weeks, months or years to see a psychologist.”

Ms Woodland recalled a case from her time as a psychologist that particuarly struck a chord with her.

“I remember taking a client to the hospital who was suicidal. I sat with him for eight hours in an empty room where they had taken his shoes and belt,” she said.

“We were waiting for a telehealth call from Wagga Wagga and it never came.”

Ms Woodland believes a lack of follow-up care is causing the system to crack.

“If you present at Griffith Base (Hospital), you’ll sit in triage for hours because you’re not a high priority. If you’re not deemed a risk in that moment, then they will give you some phone numbers to ring and then send you off,” she said.

“There’s absolutely no follow-up.”

Ms Woodland said societal pressures had led to a longstanding stigma around mental health issues in parts of regional Australia, particularly among men.

“Women rally for mental health. They’re the first ones to reach out, they drop food to your home and they’re there for you,” she said.

“But not one man in my son’s life has stood up and said, ‘come with me, let’s go for a drive or lets go shooting’.”

Ms Woodland believes it’s ultimately up to men to address their disproportionately high suicide rates.

“Men instinctively know how to deal with men. They need to be out there teaching young boys,” she said.

“That’s why our boys are dying.”

‘It’s heartbreaking’

According to Griffith Mayor Doug Curran, most people in the town know someone that has taken their own life.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Mr Curran told news.com.au.

“People have to jump on planes to have their medical appointments, it plays a huge mental impost onto those patients and their families.

“You wonder what the alternatives may have been if they had support. We don’t have the right structure in our health system to offer that support.

“It goes unnoticed until something happens.”

Almost 30 per cent of the population – about seven million Australians – live in rural and remote areas. According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, they face significantly worse health outcomes than their city counterparts, with higher rates of hospitalisations, deaths and injury and also poorer access to primary health care services.

In the broader Murrumbidgee area, in which Griffith is located, over 15 per cent of adults experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress, with mental health conditions also more prevalent than across NSW as a whole.

Despite the recent opening of the new $250 million Griffith Base Hospital – which supposedly delivers “state of the art facilities and enhanced regional health services” – locals say they still have to drive hours to larger towns to access the most basic medical attention.

The new hospital does not feature a designated mental health care unit, offering only telehealth conversations.

Additionally, there are currently no acting psychiatrists in the town, and no pediatrician.

There is a local headpsace centre, along with a few counselling services, but locals say extensive wait times have created a massive barrier to accessing care.

Independent Murray state MP Helen Dalton said the hospital was a “ghost town” that was struggling to employ staff due to the challenges of living in the region.

“We need to have a dedicated mental health unit at the hospital, and they’re refusing to do that,” Ms Dalton said.

“People are pushed beyond their limits up here.”

‘Everyone knows someone that has died by suicide’

According to Suicide Prevention Australia, one farmer dies by suicide every 10 days, while almost half of all farmers (45 per cent) had experienced thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Farmers within certain demographics also have even higher suicide rates, including males, those who have separated from their spouse and middle-aged farmers.

From 2009 to 2018, the average suicide rate in farmers was almost 59 per cent higher than non-farmers.

This rate increased to 94 per cent higher than non-farmers in 2018.

Local Griffith farmer Nathan Crowley, 36, moved back to his family farm four years ago after leaving at 18.

The farm has been in his family for 80 years, making him a third generation rice farmer.

Mr Crowley is no stranger to suicide and the impact it has on his rural community.

“Everyone in the community knows someone that has died by suicide,” he said.

The young farmer described a community that ultimately feels “unheard” by both politicans and wider Australia, as well as an overall “tough lifestyle” made harder by compounding issues such as water insecurity and drought.

In Griffith, and much of regional Australia, the price of water has tripled and the average price of fertiliser – which usually sits at $600 – is now closer to $1500 per tonne.

Without sustainable water, fuel and fertiliser policy, many of these family-owned farms will have to consider selling up to large corporations just to make ends meet, according to Mr Crowley.

Call for action

Australian paralympic sprinter and water skier Scott Reardon grew up on a farm near Temora, under two hours away from Griffith.

When Mr Reardon was 12 he lost his right leg in a brutal farm accident, an experience he said was “life altering”.

“I felt like I woke up as a 30-year-old in a 12-year-old body,” he told news.com.au.

“It was harder for people to see me for me.”

Mr Reardon lost two friends to suicide in 2014, an experience he said had a devastating impact on his community.

“Males, particularly, tend to hide what we feel and we don’t actually get out and have a chat about what is going on,” he said.

“When you are out in country areas, you are excluded from many support networks and those you do have can be very small.”

Mr Reardon recalled never having heard of the topic of mental health throughout childhood.

“There was this ingrained generational stoicism that was passed down and mental health issues were just never something we spoke about,” he said.

The Paralympic silver medal winner believes early prevention is key to saving the lives of those struggling with suicidal ideation.

“We need to be learning about mental health as soon as possible,” he said.

“As parents we need to make sure we are looking after our kids, allowing them to stop and breathe and to validate what is happening in their lives.”

For Mr Reardon, his entry into the world of sport launched the mental healing process after his accident.

“I had a choice. I could sit at home and complain or continue to live my life, regardless of what happened. I got out there into the world,” he said.

‘People are feeling neglected’

Mr Curran has worked in local government for 18 years, and worries the people of Griffith are being “left behind”.

“I worry people are getting tired and underappreciated,” he said.

“It’s a real slap in the face, we feel invisible.”

Ms Dalton echoed those sentiments, saying rural areas have “had a gutful” of being ignored.

“We are very passive people and we take a lot, but we deserve a piece,” she said.

Griffith local Brian* said the issues of rural Australians could not be fathomed by those living in cities.

“Mental health challenges people face in this part of the world cannot be fathomed by people in Sydney or Canberra,” he said.

“If you’ve not lived in an area like this, you don’t generally understand it well enough.

“I think people are feeling neglected. (Cities) don’t understand (the) challenges faced by people out here and the state is completely broken.”

Stigma stopping farmers from receiving help

Suicide Prevention Australia CEO Nieves Murray said the ongoing stigma of mental health issues remains a key factor in people’s postponement or avoidance of getting help, particularly in smaller communities.

“Often for people in small communities, there’s a concern that they’re going to be stigmatised if they reach out for help,” Ms Murray told news.com.au.

“I think we need to focus on reducing stigma by recognising there are other strategies that we can deploy to actually support people, rather than saying ‘you’ll be right’.”

Ms Murray believes these strategies include awareness, improved community capability, mental health first aid and increased primary health networks.

“Primary health networks have a significant role to play, but that’s not the only answer,” she said.

“Supporting communities to develop regionally-based, local-based responses is important. There is an opportunity for government to increase community preparedness and to invest in raising skill sets in the broader community.”

Ms Murray said on top of incentivising professionals and clinicans to move to rural areas, communities need to be equipped with basic mental health first aid skills.

“We know for a fact that more than half the people who die by suicide don’t have a mental health diagnosis and therefore don’t touch the health system,” she said.

“We also know that the first time a person tells their story of suicidal distress is the most telling in what happens next for that person. So, if somebody asks a question and has the skills to listen to the person’s response and then support the person, often the trajectory is much more positive.”

Government under pressure to strengthen ailing system

Assistant Minister for mental health and suicide prevention Emma McBride told news.com.au the Labor government had delivered $1.1 billion to strengthen mental health care, including expanding its network of Medicare Mental Health Centres to 92 locations nationwide.

“We recognise that Australians living in rural and remote communities can face additional challenges accessing support,” Ms McBride said.

“That’s why are delivering a network of 20 headspace outreach services for rural and remote Australia, alongside launching Medicare Mental Health Check In, Australia’s first free national digital mental health service, making sure professional support is available wherever people live.

“In addition, the Commonwealth has delivered an extra $25 billion in funding for public hospitals, recognising the vital role regional hospitals play in supporting local communities.

Unfortunately, for residents of Griffith, the closest Medicare Mental Health Centre is in Wagga Wagga, a two-hour drive away.