It's a day that Mena Condo will never forget.

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She was getting ready for a well-earned day off from a hectic work schedule at the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council as a domestic violence case worker in her adopted home of Alice Springs, Central Australia.

"I actually wish I had been at work," she said.

"I got a hysterical phone call from my daughter, Emma-Kate, to tell me that Jack was dead."

There had been no indication that her beloved eldest son and middle child, Jack, who was in the final year at high school in Adelaide, was at risk of suicide.

"None whatsoever. Not even a smidgen that something wasn't right," she said.

Jack Panuccio was loved by many in his home town of Adelaide. ( Supplied: Mena Condo )

Her initial reaction was total shock and disbelief.

"I just screamed and screamed and screamed, I didn't believe it. I just broke down," Ms Condo said.

Six months earlier, Jack began taking antidepressants after visiting his doctor.

Jack's mum, Mena was in disbelief and shock when she learnt of the death of her son. ( Supplied: Mena Condo )

"Things started to change for Jack and he was eventually diagnosed with depression and anxiety," Ms Condo said.

"In those later months, the anxiety became quite crippling and chronic for him.

"His mood was definitely up and down not long before he died. He said, 'Mum, I'm back at my best I'm doing great' and he was really focused."

She said it was difficult for people to grasp Jack's diagnosis.

"No-one really believed Jack could be depressed," Ms Condo said.

"He was that young man who everyone loved and aspired to be like. He had lots of friends, lots of support networks, but didn't reach out to anyone."

A club you don't want to be a member of

The hardest days for Ms Condo are Jack's birthday and the anniversary of his death.

"He'd be 21 on March 23. Every year I do a birthday cake for him and I buy him a birthday present," Ms Condo said.

"It makes me feel that he's there and it makes me feel normal for a moment."

Mena Condo has completed a graduate certificate in suicide prevention. ( Supplied: Mena Condo )

Ms Condo said it had been a tough and lonely road, especially given the limited services in Alice Springs.

"One of the biggest struggles here in Alice Springs is finding other people in the same situation," she said.

"There are no support groups that I know of.

Mena and her son Jack as a one-year-old. ( Supplied: Mena Condo )

"I'm just lucky that I'm blessed with some wonderful friends here in this town.

"They have been incredibly supportive and let me talk about Jack without making me feel like I'm traumatising them or it's shameful and that he's not a dirty secret."

Ms Condo said there was a stigma around suicide.

"I find [people] are more uncomfortable than I am about talking about it," she said.

"People don't know what to say … I've seen people just avoid me, so I don't have to deal with it. I understand. It's very uncomfortable."

Since her son's death, Ms Condo has earned a graduate certificate in suicide prevention.

"I actually found it quite therapeutic," she said.

"I got some insight into why people take their lives and it gave me a lot of answers, but it also gave me too many answers."

Suicide support services in outback Australia

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Northern Territory suicide rates are high with 47 recorded deaths to suicide in 2018 — just under one a week.

Laurencia Grant, suicide prevention project officer with Mental Health Association Central Australia (MHACA), put the high suicide rate down to the higher Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander population in the Northern Territory.

"Fifty per cent of those deaths on average are non-Indigenous people and 50 per cent are Indigenous people, mostly men probably around 78 per cent — just like the national average," she said.

According to Ms Grant, most of the suicides occurred in the more populated regions in the Top End.

"In Central Australia, we experience possibly one per month … if you average it out over a year," she said.

Suicide Prevention project officer with Mental Health Association Central Australia, Laurencia Grant. ( Supplied: Laurencia Grant )

There are a number of services in Alice Springs, however several challenges exist given the large distances between communities and townships.

The Standby Support After Suicide Program and the National Indigenous Critical Response Service, which are both Darwin-based, work closely with each other providing care and support for those affected by suicide.

"What that means for us in Central Australia is that we have to rely on people getting information that these services are available to them and the Northern Territory Police have that information," Ms Grant said.

"The Northern Territory Police are the first responders when there's a suicide, they go to the family, they let them know that there are support services available and they can also leave brochures and information for those people."

Number of suicide deaths by state or territory. ( Supplied: Australian Bureau of Statistics )

Ms Grant said people who were in difficulty may not have the resources or English as a first language to access a phone-based service.

"There is a team of people here in Alice Springs who are trained in the delivery of support to anyone who needs it," she said.

"Anyone across Central Australia who has had an experience of losing someone to suicide can access this service.

"It doesn't matter when the death occurred, even if it was 10 years ago, and that service will provide as many free sessions of support. It could be face-to-face, over the phone, as well as follow-up support in the way of referring them on to other services.

However, Ms Grant said more could be done to improve service delivery.

"We need to talk to local people about what an effective response to support families around suicide bereavement would look like," she said.

"It might look like getting the support from people in Darwin, or it might look like we need actually some people on the ground who can respond immediately to a family's needs.

"It's not just family when a suicide occurs. We're talking about kids in schools. We're talking about getting headspace school support services in place as well."

Ms Grant said the MHACA was looking to start a support group in Alice Springs to help families affected by suicide.

"We're really interested to know what that might look like for Aboriginal people in this town, as well as young people," she said.

"We might even have to think about a different approach for different groups."

'No one group is immune', NT Health says

The Central Australia Health Service (CAHS) acknowledged there were many people in remote communities who were struggling with thoughts of suicide or living with the grief of losing a loved one from suicide.

"No one group, community or age range is immune," a spokesperson from CAHS said.

The NT Department of Health funds and supports suicide and prevention in Central Australia through various non-profit organisations including: Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Lifeline Central Australia, Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia, and the Salvation Army.

Community suicide prevention programs also operate within the region including: Community Mental Health First Aid Courses, Making a Difference Program, and the Coming Together Looking After Them Project.