In the 1990s, more young Australian men took their own lives than ever before.

As the decade came to a close we sighed with relief as these suicide rates seemed to steady.

Yet the calm was short-lived. It soon became clear that as this same group of boys became men, they were continuing to suicide in extremely high numbers, well into the new millennium.

As these guys, all born in from the mid-1960s to '70s, transitioned from school to the workforce to fatherhood and middle-age, we were losing more than 400 of them a year.

As of 2018, again, this group of men — now aged between 45 and 54 — represented the largest age-specific increase in suicide deaths.

It's likely we all know one of these men

When starting to contextualise these staggering statistics, it's important to realise that this group of men lived through unique transitions in labour force participation, the rise of part-time work, insecure employment and a widespread redistribution of wealth to the rich.

And it is likely that we all know one of these men.

But what we don't know is what so profoundly scarred some of them.

And just as concerning is that a new generation of at-risk young men is being created right before our eyes.

How can we reach them? How can we catch them, before they get started on this fatal trajectory?

He might look exactly like he did last week

For too long we've been looking at depression, anxiety or substance use alone as warning signs of potential suicide.

But what research tells us is that men might not show their distress in ways that we can see or diagnose.

He's probably not crying. In fact, he might look exactly like he did last week.

Instead, what we should keep an eye out for are situational factors like unemployment, financial stress and relationship breakdown that are reliably linked with suicide in men.

When we start to add these stressors into our frame of reference for male suicide, the trope that "we never saw it coming" falls away.

We all see this every day.

The broader we cast our net, the more people we catch

And the Federal Government is finally listening. A fortnight ago Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced a $64 million suicide prevention plan.

Importantly, there was a seismic shift in the focus of this initiative.

For decades, suicide was viewed as the responsibility of a medicalised, mental health model.

Yet in recognition of the fact that we're struggling to make a dent in these statistics, the Government is proposing an idea — informed by the lived experiences of community members — for responding to the complex environmental stressors faced by those that take their own lives.

These situational factors are known to be the greatest predictors of psychological distress and subsequent suicide among men.

The broader we cast our net for suicide prevention, the more people we will be able to catch.

This is a pivotal change, but it remains a small step forward because we've got a marathon ahead of us if we're going to stop men dying too young.

These situational factors are particularly important when putting into context why the vast majority of suicides in Australia are men.

We should keep an eye out for are situational factors like unemployment, financial stress and relationship breakdown that are reliably linked with suicide in men. ( Supplied: Parents Beyond Breakup )

While it seems that traditional pressures around being a breadwinner and provider are on the way out, there is often an ingrained feeling of shame and failure among many guys when they don't live up to these ideals.

I've seen plenty of men in therapy who can't come to terms with how this invisible pressure, a pressure they don't even believe in, retains such power over them.

We must learn from history

We must learn from history.

The ongoing high risk of suicide in the group of men born in the 1960s and '70s should remind us that our social and political decisions have direct and serious ramifications on the health of a population.

There's whispering of a recession on the horizon, and unemployment rates and cost of living remain high.

Young men today are looking for their place in a world that is rapidly changing what it expects of them and what it can offer.

Building up their resilience to the adversities of life, while providing them with opportunities for meaningful social connection and a voice to speak out when they need a hand, is key if we're to stop a new generation of men being wounded by a tumultuous social climate.

Zac Seidler is a men's health research fellow and clinical psychologist.