One suicide is a tragedy. But what happens when a community is rocked by a series of suicides, one after another, all of them young people? Do the families mourn in private, fearful that expressing their grief publicly could result in more deaths? Or does the community come together, so that individual families can tell their stories and in turn do something to combat the insidious face of depression and its consequences?

Until now the accepted wisdom has been to publicly downplay suicide but in speaking to families who've lost children, reporter Liz Jackson found that young people are in fact talking about suicide all the time on facebook. Social media has the potential to influence behaviour, for better or worse, and it's now accepted that suicide prevention strategies need to deal with this. As one parent explains, it was only after the death of her child that she realised her daughter had been discussing her depression and suicidal thoughts on facebook. When calls and messages kept coming addressed to her deceased daughter the mother was forced to write:

"Can everyone please stop calling and messaging (my daughter). She doesn't have her phone. I do. And by the way there is no 3G in heaven."

Four Corners tells the story of one community in a major Australian city where the threat of repeated suicides amongst young people became so overwhelming that families and community leaders, backed by mental health experts, held an old fashioned public meeting to allow the families and friends of the victims to tell their stories. It was a bold and controversial step but it was the only way they felt they could deal with the situation. In doing so the community hoped they could break the terrible silence and find a way to confront this silent enemy. You will be shocked by what you see.

"There is No 3G in Heaven", reported by Liz Jackson and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 10th September at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 11th September at 11.35 pm. It can also be seen at 8pm on Saturday on ABC News 24, on ABC iview and at 4 Corners.

Transcript

"There's No 3G in Heaven" - Monday 10 September 2012

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: It's every family's worst nightmare.

INTERVIEWER: Do you feel you could ever have spoken to her directly and said, "Paige, do you want to end your life?"

CAROL MENZIES, GRANDMOTHER OF SUICIDE VICTIM: I probably could. I could have done that. If I'm honest, I would have been too scared of what the answer would be.

PROFESSOR PATRICK MCGORRY, YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH EXPERT (speaking at local summit): Suicide is preventable...

KERRY O'BRIEN: In one community facing an overwhelming pain of loss, the wall of silence has been breached.

GARRY HOWE, EDITOR OF PAKENHAM GAZETTE: We had an incident where one of the schools lost four kids in the space of 12 months. I think people finally thought well something has to happen here, we've got to speak out.

KERRY O'BRIEN: To speak, or remain silent? The shocking dilemma of youth suicide. Welcome to Four Corners.

The experts tell us suicide can be prevented. Obviously in many cases it is. In many others, it's not. This is a deeply worrying story of one suburban corridor in south east Melbourne. Official figures are not publically available, but in recent times a disturbing number of young people have taken their own lives.

Four Corners has spoken to eight families in the area who have lost children in the past two years.

And we know of more.

There's a familiar refrain. They lose a child, they keep to themselves: their grief is a private matter. They're vulnerable to sense of stigma, guilt and shame. There's a reluctance to talk publically for fear that an open discussion of suicide might encourage others to take their own lives.

But while parents and community leaders have been reticent, young people haven't. Particularly on the internet.

A place where suicidal thoughts are openly expressed and not always in a healthy way.

Faced with this social media reality, the community decided to act, going public to take the gut-wrenching reality of youth suicide head on. A local reaction to a difficult national issue.

They've shared their stories and the rawness of a pain that will not go away, with Liz Jackson.

LIZ JACKSON, REPORTER: On the south eastern outskirts of Melbourne, in the growth corridor cut through by the railway line, there's alarm, fear and heartbreak.

In suburbs like Dandenong, Narre Warren and Berwick, the community is confronting the stark reality of suicide in their midst.

The suicide of their youth.

Their deaths had until recently gone largely unreported. A disturbing number were death by train.

PATRICK MCGORRY: I've been talking about this phenomenon in Dandenong, Narre Warren with colleagues and members of the public and no-one knows about it. It's quite amazing you know that this many young people can be dying in a community and it not being you know, widely known in the wider community.

It's known in the local community obviously, there's tremendous anxiety in the local community about it, but more widely it's covered up.

DEE MCINTYRE, MOTHER OF SUICIDE VICTIM (to daughter, Molly): Do you want crumpet or do you want Weetbix?

LIZ JACKSON: Dee McIntyre lives in Beaconsfield with her husband Steve and their four children.

He's a construction manager; she's mostly stayed at home and looked after the children

Connor is 10, Lilly is seven, Molly is three and Bella is 18 months.

Dee's first child Paige took her own life just after her 16th birthday on June the 5th this year.

LIZ JACKSON: Can you just tell us what kind of a girl she was? Tell us about Paige.

DEE MCINTYRE: She was bubbly, very pretty, a very generous, kind-hearted girl. Everyone always said what impeccable manners she had.

LIZ JACKSON: What was she like as a young child?

DEE MCINTYRE: Quiet. She played really, really well on her own. She didn't need lots of people around her. She was very sensitive. Always very helpful. Artistic.

LIZ JACKSON: Paige grew up close to her grandmother, as Dee was a single parent when Paige was born.

CAROL MENZIES: Well I was with her the moment she was born and just really watched her grow, turn into this sweet little girl who you know just normal, happy little girl. And I know she was my granddaughter, but she was a beautiful girl, beautifully attractive, a lovely girl and she had her self-esteem. She never accepted that she was pretty. She never, you know you could say to her and she'd just grin, "Oh Nan", you know that sort of thing.

DEE MCINTYRE: I think until grade six she was that really happy, easy-going just beautiful girl. And then when they go to high school things change. She would come and want to spend a lot of time on her own. You don't know if it's just normal teenage behaviour or if there's a concern. She, they do, they spend a lot of time in their rooms and she was always on her iPad or iPhone. Like it was, it never left her sight. But it's their lifeline really.

LIZ JACKSON: Paige joined Facebook on Oct 22 2009, aged 13. The first of what would be her many Facebook friends posted, "u r one of the best friends I have eva met. when I go through a bad time u are always there for me. thank u so much ily till I die. PS hopefully that aint soon"

Her mother felt cut out.

DEE MCINTYRE: She'd always been my friend and we'd talked and she had completely withdrawn from me. I could see that she didn't even really like me. She was, you know, I didn't know if that was normal. Is she just a normal teenage girl and I'm her mum and I'm annoying I tell her you know what to do and keep an eye on her and she doesn't want that to happen.

So I, you know, just tried. I'd have girl days with her. We'd have mum and daughter days and I'd, you know, take her shopping and go to the movies and do things like that. And try and get her to talk. And sometimes she did when she was more relaxed. Sometimes she would talk. I knew that she was struggling at school; she found hard. But school is life and you have to go to school.

LIZ JACKSON: In November last year Paige changed schools and posted...

"First day at Berwick High tomorrow yay".

Six months later it was:

"Fucking hate Berwick high!!!!"

For some time her generally chirpy Facebook chat had been peppered with needy comments and boyfriend break up blues.

"Could use some cheering up".

"I think I am depressed".

And then this from January,

"Trust me I know how it feels to cry in the shower so no-one can hear you, and waiting for everyone to fall asleep so you can fall apart and for everything to hurt so bad you just want to end it all..."

Her Facebook friends responded,

"Paige, are you OK?"

Her mother was unaware of this.

DEE MCINTYRE: The big thing for me, the warning sign was when her reports started to change. So she, her, and her school teachers would say that her behaviour had gone downhill and that she was becoming disruptive and I could just see the way that she, a bit of attitude, I guess, that she'd never had before. But at the same time I thought oh my gosh, she's you know in year nine, is this just part of what teenagers do?

Then in February, Dee saw the signs that Paige was self harming. It would continue and worsen.

DEE MCINTYRE: She had a little short-sleeved top on and I noticed just on her forearm some more, they were more than scratches, they were noticeable, but they hadn't bled a lot; they weren't deep.

And I said to her what's on your arm? And she said to me, "Oh the cat scratched me." I said, "Hmm I know they're not cat scratches, you know, I think we need to go and speak to someone about this." And she said, "I'm not talking to anyone, I'm not going to talk about this." And then from that point on it would just get worse.

She was using razors; she burnt a hole in her arm with a blowtorch. But she would wear short tops, so she did want people to see what she was doing, but it was never discussed.

LIZ JACKSON: his photo of Paige's arm was posted in May.

The heading, "Paige's fucked up smiley!"

Seven friends made a comment including, "I thought mine was bad."

DEE MCINTYRE: And I think that Paige didn't think of it on her own. And I did find information on her iPhone. She'd been to an internet site and it was about cutting. And it explained how to do it and why you would do that.

And when Paige has explained to me why she cut, it was pretty much word for word what she had read.

CAROL MENZIES: Dee told me one night. She rang, she was concerned that Paige had been cutting and I didn't even know what that meant and Dee talked to her about it and that's the first time in February I think it was, February or around about then. Apart from that I would have never have thought that there was any, any problems at all.

LIZ JACKSON: And what was your reaction to finding she'd been cutting herself?

CAROL MENZIES: Oh shocked. Well I was just heartbroken for her because I knew that there was something that was troubling her but she couldn't talk about it. When I came and said to her you know, "Why, darling?" And she said, "I'm in pain", and, but she wouldn't talk about it.

DEE MCINTYRE: I went to my GP and had a discussion about the self-harming and that's when they said you know you need to bring Paige into us and that's what we did, and she started seeing the GP once a week. Just to go and speak to because she wouldn't see a counsellor and she said she didn't mind speaking to this GP.

But I think that she just told the GP what she wanted to hear, because it wasn't, it was only two weeks after that that she tried to commit suicide the first time.

LIZ JACKSON: It was late on the night of March 10th. Paige slipped out of her room and walked to a friend's place where she hung out and watched movies for awhile, then stood up and left.

The boys were worried. They went out looking and found her on the railway tracks and brought her home. The boys watched for a bit from the top of the drive to make sure she stayed there. No-one told her parents, Dee and Stephen, till the afternoon of the following day.

DEE MCINTYRE: I had a phone call from her friend's mum saying my daughter's just told me that Paige was on the tracks last night and that boys have rescued her off the tracks. And I went up to Paige and I said, "You've gotta come down to the bedroom and speak to me and Stephen. And she came down and we told her what we knew, and she just broke down into tears and said, "I just don't want to be here anymore." And, I had no idea, that, I was so shocked. And then I think Stephen was too and he had said, had kind of made a comment asking her if it was for attention, and she was just devastated by that. And that night we took her into Casey Hospital, and that's when she got referred to Stepping Stones.

LIZ JACKSON: Stepping Stones is the adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit for the Casey area. The unit admits young people with an immediate and elevated risk of serious self harm. And watches them.

It's a short stay facility.

DEE MCINTYRE: I put her into her bedroom, because it was like past midnight at this stage. It was just a small room with two single beds in it. The walls weren't plastered, it was just brick wall, and it was like an old doona cover on the bed. And she just looked at me and said I can't believe you're leaving me here. And I was devastated, but I didn't know what else to do. I needed to keep her safe.

LIZ JACKSON: And how long did she stay in for?

DEE MCINTYRE: She stayed in for ten days.

CAROL MENZIES: I visited three times with Dee and then she asked that I didn't go anymore because she said, "I don't want Nan to see me in this place."

DEE MCINTYRE (to LIZ JACKSON): I wanted to show you this because it's a...

LIZ JACKSON (as voiceover): While Paige was in Stepping Stones her mother found this drawing in her daughter's bedroom.

(footage of Paige's drawing)

She says at the time she thought it was a picture of Paige's boyfriend driving away and leaving her, but realised much later what it actually was. Paige had drawn herself standing by the railway tracks.

What struck Dee were the words written along the edges

DEE MCINTYRE: You've got "stupid, slag, faggot, useless, whore, rat, slut, bitch, cow" all these names, "useless, worthless".

I regret not speaking to Paige about this. I didn't speak to her about it because I felt like I had invaded her privacy going through her room, but really as a parent, I had every right to be going through her room and trying to find things, to try and find out more about, you know, why she was feeling the way that she was.

LIZ JACKSON: On March the 26th, Dee took Paige off for a week in Bali, hoping to cheer her up and to celebrate her 16th birthday.

Over 70 friends posted birthday greetings on the day.

They returned from Bali on the 4th April.

DEE MCINTYRE: We saw the psychologist the next day, so it was about three weeks after that that she saw the psychiatrist. And she was depressed. He said, "I'm worried, she's definitely depressed." But they did find it hard to get much information from her.

They always made that quite clear, that she wasn't really willing to talk.

LIZ JACKSON: And what did you feel in your position then? How anxious were you?

DEE MCINTYRE: Very. It was like I was walking on eggshells all the time. I didn't know how to parent anymore. No-one seemed to be able to give me help or answers. I kind of felt like no-one else had any urgency, so I felt like, even though I was feeling anxious all the time and so worried and didn't know what to do, I kind of thought but no-one's in panic mode here.

And I didn't want to talk about it, because I felt like if I talked about it, it would increase the risk of her wanting to do something.

LIZ JACKSON (to Carol Menzies): Do you feel that you could ever have spoken to her directly and said, "Paige, do you want to end your life?"

CAROL MENZIES: I probably could. I could have done that. If I'm honest, I would have been too scared of what the answer would be, because if she had a said, "Yes, Nan, I do", I think I always guess, I hoped that things would come right, that I would never have to face what we've had to face. So it was probably cowardice on my part not doing that.

LIZ JACKSON: On April 24th Paige posted, "Been diagnosed with depression and no-one giving you medication to help, sucks ass."

There were 14 comments including,

"meds don't help darling haha"

But as Paige failed to improve, the psychiatrist prescribed her anti-depressants.

Dee was warned that for the first four weeks there was an increased risk of suicidal thoughts.

DEE MCINTYRE: But it was a small risk, it wasn't a large risk. Given that information, I did feel nervous. I felt like I was being sent home with this child that was suicidal anyway and they're now being given medication that could make those symptoms worse, but he did say that it was only a small side effect. So I knew that hopefully the benefit of going on the anti-depressants would outweigh the risk of causing suicidal thoughts.

LIZ JACKSON: On the 16th May, Paige posted, "I hate when people say thinking of/or commiting [sic] suicide is a selfish and cowerdly [sic] thing, you dont think the person that has depression knows how much it would hurt people, but it's a desease [sic] and they must have so much pain, not something you just wake up one morning and decide to end your life."

Three weeks later Paige spent the week-end with her grandmother.

CAROL MENZIES: We had a nice weekend and I bought her home on the Sunday night and spoke to her on Monday, talked by via text as well and then Tuesday just before one I got a message from her on my, a text message that just said "love you" and I smiled and thought that's lovely and then almost immediately I got just a, an absolute fear through me and I thought "oh god", so I tried to ring her and she didn't answer and I assumed she was at school.

DEE MENZIES: Then mum got another message back from her saying "Nan, I'm in class." But by this stage I knew that she wasn't in class because the school had rung me to say that she hadn't showed up for period three. And that's when I just knew. I knew that something wasn't right.

And I went, the school rang and said, "What should we do, what do you want us to do?" And I said, "I want you to go to Beaconsfield train station", because that's where she had tried to go the first time.

And I think I actually beat them there. I drove there and looked around there and I didn't kind of know where to go. And I was making my way into Berwick, and that's when I saw the road- the police roadblocks set up. And I pulled up next to the police and said, "What's going on?" And they tried to tell me that I was going to cause an accident, to keep moving and you know get out their way.

And I pulled in and I said no, you need to tell me.

LIZ JACKSON: Paige's grandmother had headed to the railway crossing as well, desperate with fear of what might have happened.

CAROL MENZIES: Oh just seeing those lights of that crossing and police and sirens and I knew it was her. I just knew it would be Paige and couple of minutes later I got a call from Dee asking me to pull over. She knew I was on my way and she said, "Mum, I need you to stop driving" and I said to her, "It's Paige isn't it?" And she said yes, and I said "It's in Berwick?" And she said yes, and I said "Is she dead?" And she said "mm-hmm", and that was it.

DEE MCINTYRE: I just, like I knew deep in my heart, but I didn't want to believe it. And I couldn't believe I felt betrayed by her and I was angry at her, thinking, "how could you do this? You didn't even you know give me that one last hug."

How did this happen without knowing the sign of, like how, how can you just send your child to school? And… sorry. Oh God.

LIZ JACKSON: In her last moments, Paige updated her Facebook status to,

"Scared :("

Alarmed her friends sent messages and texts:

"Why?"

"Inbox me?"

"Why Paige?"

"Why are you scared, Paiggeeeee?"

None of these reached her.

By late afternoon her Facebook site was flooded with disbelief and grief as news of her death was posted and reposted by her 600 Facebook friends.

Thousands of posts and comments have since been left on her Facebook wall. And they continue.

Memories, messages and tattoos.

On July the 1st Dee asked for the direct calls to Paige's phone to stop.

"Can everyone please stop calling and messaging Paige's phone. She doesn't have her phone, i do. And by the way there is no 3G in heaven. Thanks, Dee."

DEE MCINTYRE: They need to understand that death is final. There's nothing. When you die there's nothing, and that the people that are left behind are left with sadness and guilt.

LIZ JACKSON: The police returned Paige's iPhone to Dee.

Scrolling through, she recently found a message, saved but never posted from Paige.

It's the nearest thing Dee has to a suicide note, written on the 14th April, just after midnight. These are extracts.

DEE MCINTYRE (reading extracts): I feel so empty and lost. l don't want to be here anymore. I'm sick of people bullying others and thinking it doesn't affect someone. Now when I tell people that I tried to commit and then I had to go into a psych ward they look at me and think I'm a freak. Sleeping and not sleeping are both hell to me. I have nightmares no matter what. Finally voices start telling me I'm not good enough to be in this world, I'd better go jump - you're dumb, slut, whore, fag, ugly, loser, retarded, skank - that's what people have said in the past and now voices in my head say it to me every day. To every person who bullies I have no respect for you. You're the reason why I wanted to end my life.

LIZ JACKSON: It's now three months since Paige's death, and Dee is still struggling. But she has four children to care for and Lilly has a ballet class to go to.

DEE MCINTYRE (to Lily): Beautiful.

(to Liz Jackson)

It's nine weeks today actually, and I know now that it really is real and that I'm never, ever going to see her again. And my three year old in the car says to me, "Mummy, can we ring Paige this afternoon?" And I'm like, "No, we can't ring Paige." And she goes, "But why?" And I say, "Because she's gone to heaven, you know she's gone to heaven." She goes, "Yeah, but we can still ring her. She can still talk to us."

LIZ JACKSON: Paige's death hit hard. In a community already stricken by the number of young people who'd taken their own lives.

A twenty minute drive from Berwick, still in the city of Casey, is Membrey's transport and crane hire business. The owner, Craig Membrey, lost his son, Rowan, 18 months ago.

Rowan was 17 when he took his own life.

He was a keen BMX biker and his giant image on the truck is his father's way of keeping the memory of his son, front of mind, and to push the issue of youth suicide into the public eye.

CRAIG MEMBREY, FATHER OF ROWAN: I didn't even know what suicide was. I didn't know what depression was. And I mean the, didn't know any of that. All, all I'd be worried about is buying me next truck or crane you know what I mean? Just living me dream type of thing, but you know that all stopped 18 months ago.

LIZ JACKSON (to Craig Membrey): Before it actually happened, were there any particular signs that you sort of...

CRAIG MEMBREY: No.

LIZ JACKSON: ...picked up on and you thought look I'm a bit worried.

CRAIG MEMBREY: Unfortunately, we were separated at marriage. I had no contact with him and the other side of the family never shared any of the issues with, about Rowan so it's all the Saturday night before he died, I spoke to Rowan on the phone for an hour and a half, that conversation I'll never forget. I can nearly remember it word by word.

LIZ JACKSON: And what was he talking about?

CRAIG MOMBREY: Oh he rang me up and he was pretty yelling and screaming. We'd been through a bad trot through the whole time and he told me he'd been doing drugs, dealing with ice and that type thing and I said, "Mate I can't believe you're telling me, you've got the guts to tell me cause you know what I think of that type of stuff, but what are we going to do about it?" So we started talking about it and he said, "Yeah I'm all for that and I'm getting help and I've got, I've been to the doctor and I've got anti-depressant tablets".

So and you know the conversation went on, but unfortunately I didn't get to help him quick enough type of thing.

LIZ JACKSON: Rowan had been a student at Beaconhills College, described there as a loveable larrikin.

He left the school after year 10. He was said to be easy going, charming and charismatic, not meant to be confined to a conventional class room.

But a year out from school, he'd changed.

(to Craig Membrey)

What do you think brought about the change from being...

CRAIG MEMBREY: Oh Rowan's change? Oh drugs, drugs, drugs. The ice is you know I mean, and I mean, mean I've done a fair bit of research on Google and finding out about ice and all that type of thing. And when I spoke to Rowan on the phone the Saturday night before he died, he said to me, "Dad, he said me, me brain's just fried out, mate. Dad me brain's fried out." He said, "This drug, it's just done me head in", type of thing you know?

LIZ JACKSON (for Australian Story): Just days after the call, Craig got a message that Rowan was in trouble.

CRAIG MEMBREY: So I texted Rowan on the phone and he texted me back straightaway a message to say, "Are you okay, son?" "Yeah I'm all right." And I said, "Oh just checking. Where are you?" And he said, "I'm at work" and I said, "Good boy" and he pushed a message back, "Okay."

And that was the last contact I had with him and then I drove up to a building site for Leighton's to look at a job in Springvale and where I looked at the job you wouldn't believe it, crossed, from right across there was where he jumped in front of the train.

It was just a fluke that that reason and then it, that was at 10:50 am I was there and then at 10:50 pm, 12 hours from that time that's when that Rowan's time of death was, collision with the train.

LIZ JACKSON: Over a thousand people attended Rowan Membrey's funeral. Many of them were school friends he'd known from Beaconhills College.

Distraught at the loss of one of their former school mates, so young. No-one here could have contemplated that within 14 months, three further students, two who'd recently left the school, and one a student in year 12, would take their own lives.

All boys, all in their teens.

Tony Sheumack is the principal of Beaconhills College.

TONY SHEUMACK, PRINCIPAL OF BEACONHILLS COLLEGE: I really don't know whether this particular region has more, has more difficulties than other regions. I'm not, don't have access to those statistics.

We certainly believe that there is a heightened awareness and there's been far too many children that have been at risk and also who have taken their own lives.

LIZ JACKSON: Paul Desmond is the Principal of St Francis Xavier College. Three of his former students took their own lives in the past 2 years. Two young men and a teenage girl.

(to Kerri Bolch)

So how many students do you have here at this campus?

KERRI BOLCH, PRINCIPAL OF BERWICK SECONDARY COLLEGE: We have over 1,500.

LIZ JACKSON (for Australian Story): Kerri Bolch is the Principal of Berwick Secondary, Paige Menzies' school.

The recent deaths have brought these principals together to reconsider, not just their welfare programmes, but at a more basic level whether they should even use the word suicide when talking with their pupils.

PAUL DESMOND: For a long time there's been a school of thought, a very strong school of thought that you didn't speak with young people about suicide. You didn't use the word suicide; you didn't give the act a credibility by naming it.

Now there is a change of thought and we are encouraged to more actively dialogue with teachers, with parents and ultimately with students and I hope we've got that right. But I'm hearing it from people that I regard very, very highly in mental health that this needs to be addressed and it needs to be spoken about. It needs to be spoken about openly.

LIZ JACKSON (to Paul Desmond): And that's the way you're taking your school?

PAUL DESMOND: That's the way I'm taking the school.

KERRI BOLCH: I think it's still controversial whether it's wise to speak about suicide publicly because if it's not handled very carefully, it can have an impact on vulnerable students, on students who are, and people, who are still grieving and feeling their loss very deeply. So I'm still not sure what's right and schools and teachers want to do the right thing by their students and their families, they certainly don't want to say anything that's going to cause a problem. So there's an air of caution about it I suppose.

TONY SHEUMACK: I think the big change in thinking to be much more public has come in a realisation that, in this modern age with the social networking which we're all embracing in our schools, we have to actually be a little bit more proactive.

LIZ JACKSON: Two former students from Beaconhills College have already created a specific suicide prevention Facebook site.

"Coming Together to Prevent Youth Suicide"

They set it up on the day that Paige Menzies took her life.

JESSICA CUMMINGS: In the past 18 months in our age group we have lost maybe four or five...

THOM HEARTLAND: Yeah.

JESSICA CUMMINGS: ...friends that have taken their own lives. And on the particular day that we did start the page, the whole day we had been worrying because we'd heard of an incident on the train line at Berwick and we were calling all of our friends and speaking on Facebook to everyone that we could to find out who was it this time and we made a page just to say look, mercy, we've had enough now. You have to stop taking your own life!

LIZ JACKSON (to Jessica Cummings and Thom Heartland): How much of it was because you'd personally known folk from your school?

THOM HEARTLAND: I think it was a huge contributor to it.

JESSICA CUMMINGS: It's basically the biggest reason.

THOM HEARTLAND: Yeah, probably our biggest reason for sure, I'd say. You know we were both greatly affected by what had happened to my friends, and yeah, I just. We didn't want people to keep having to go through that, you know. If, because yes, it's an anti-youth suicide and depression page, so if something does happen it's for people to deal with the loss of someone. But it's also for people to stop people to get to that point.

LIZ JACKSON: And you feel that young people can help other young people by just providing that space?

THOM HEARTLAND: Definitely . . .

JESSICA CUMMINGS: Definitely. It's filling that gap that has been caused not only in the City of Casey, it's everywhere because of things like Facebook. We're trying to use it in a more positive response where you don't have to be physically near each other to say, "It's okay, I am here", even if it's in a text post - "I literally am here for you."

LIZ JACKSON (for Australian Story): The Facebook group started with just 6 members. In 24 hours there were over 1,000.

Now there are 18,000 members posting and responding to what are often sad and disturbing cries for help.

LIZ JACKSON: If someone posts something very serious, someone who says I don't want to live any longer, what do you do?

JESSICA CUMMINGS: They get an overwhelming response of people that will...

THOM HEARTLAND: Yeah

Jessica: ...say to them we will do anything we can to change your mind. They will be recommended a number of different lines to call. We advertise all, as many lines as we can on the page and websites, including BeyondBlue, ReachOut, Headspace, Lifeline. Yeah, we just do anything we can to keep that person with us.

Four weeks ago the community's growing anxiety came to a confronting and emotional head.

Local folk are arriving at the Casey Council Chambers for what's been advertised bluntly as a summit on youth suicide.

Despite all the talk, there's been no official information available about the scale of the problem.

Not to the families who have lost children, nor to the local member of Parliament, Anthony Byrne.

He's arriving here with psychiatrist, Professor Patrick McGorry.

Anthony Byrne organised the summit after finding out on Twitter about yet another young person's death.

ANTHONY BYRNE, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR HOLT: It was all by rumour, by innuendo, by whisper basically. It's very difficult to get a complete handle. I got my complete handle by talking to young people. I didn't get it from anyone in the community that came to talk to me about this, that was involved in the services. My information came from young people that wanted to tell me what was going on.

ANTHONY BYRNE (speaking at local summit): I have been overwhelmed by people contacting my office...

LIZ JACKSON: The Council hall was full.

Anthony Byrne welcomed the families who'd lost a child to suicide.

ANTHONY BYRNE: You, I feel, have had to deal with this issue in silence for too long. It's our community responsibility to do something about this, to see if we can do something to prevent these terrible events happening in the future.

LIZ JACKSON: And then came the keynote speaker.

TRACEY, EMCEE OF SUMMIT: Professor Patrick McGorry.

PATRICK MCGORRY: Well thank you very much, Tracey and the very first thing probably I need to say is that suicide is preventable. Suicide is preventable. And we all believe that very much.

LIZ JACKSON: But Professor McGorry made it clear that the strategies needed for prevention were not yet in place, nor was there a clear understanding as to what was the cause.

PATRICK MCGORRY: If we're talking about prevention, we probably really need to understand why is the mental health of young people getting worse, and unfortunately there's no clear answer. It's probably got to do with big social changes that have occurred in the last two or three decades. Things like more family breakdown, more financial pressure on families, the fact that both parents have to work or there's more financial pressure.

The pathways into adulthood are much less clear, there's much less availability of unskilled work or semi-skilled work, these sorts of things, and a loss of a sense of purpose I suppose as well. The wider availability of drugs and alcohol obviously is another big one.

So I'll stop there and hopefully we can have some discussion later on too. Thank you for listening.

LIZ JACKSON: Then came the hard questions.

If suicide is preventable, what went wrong for my son, my daughter, my sister, my friend?

All of them sought help.

TRACEY: And we've got a microphone coming over, and would really appreciate if you could use it. Thank you.

YOLLANDAH AMETOGLOU, SISTER OF SUICIDE VICTIM: My names, Yolanda, my sister committed suicide 8 months ago. Her name was Estelle, I just wanted to say, she reached out for help, she tried to get help and no-one helped her, they told her to go for a walk, so she turned to drugs, like many of the other kids that have, did.

There's no one stopping that, there's no one standing up and doing that AND helping anyone. She fell between the cracks and now she's statistic on that wall.

I'm sorry, it's just frustrating and she didn't go to school and it's really great what you guys are doing, but she didn't go to school, she was finished school and she didn't have that extra help like many of the other guys did.

So what are you going to do for the people that don't go to school and have reached out and are not getting anything?

PATRICK MCGORRY: First of all, thank you for saying what you said and I'm terribly sorry about what's happened. Look, one of the misunderstandings about youth suicide is that, as you say, it should be focused on schools only. There are three times as many suicides in the 18 to 25 age group as in the teenage group, so once you've left school you are in real, real trouble if you've got a mental health problem.

It's hard to find somewhere to go and often the young people who are struggling are not working or they're dropped out of education and they're sitting in their bedrooms, you know, suffering in silence and not able to reach out, even themselves. So a huge issue, I totally take your point. We're trying to develop systems, but it's very slow and it needs to be a lot quicker.

TRACEY: Gentleman over there

MAN: My best mate, Matt Waters, took his own life seven, eight weeks ago today. But basically my question is for some people, like my friend Matt; he was also quite proactive on teen suicide awareness.

He felt like he was trapped inside his own mind, not really depressed but more trapped. He had originally seeked help, but he felt that it didn't work for him, but then he felt at a point that he was being forced into it, which kind of you know put him into a deeper hole, you know.

PATRICK MCGORRY: Yeah, okay. I think that's not an uncommon experience actually, sadly. But many people have sought help and it hasn't been the right kind of help.

SUSAN AMETOGLOU, MOTHER OF SUICIDE VICTIM: Hi, my name is Susan. I just recently lost my 17-year-old daughter. She hung herself the day before her 18th birthday. What I think you're all doing here is fantastic. My daughter lost eight friends to suicide before she died last year. It is epidemic, it is out of control. None of you want to talk about it. You don't want to let your kids hear about how another child die in case they might do it to themselves. It's not right.

We need to talk about it. You guys need to understand that if they don't understand that once they're gone, they're gone, that you, I can't bring my daughter back. I had to perform CPR on my daughter for 20 minutes and she was deceased.

I have to live with that for the rest of my life. The GP told my daughter, "Go have a cup of tea, go for a walk." We couldn't even get mental health services. Because she was 17, she was adolescent and there's a waiting list. My daughter should not be a statistic. She was a beautiful young girl that had everything going for her, and I don't want this or what my family or me has gone through to happen to any of you.

LIZ JACKSON: The following question came from a mother who lost her 20-year-old son late last year, after four suicide attempts.

MAREE DALE, MOTHER OF SUICIDE VICTIM: We would move on and go to a different service and you would start the whole issue all over again. And I felt that every time you opened up a can of worms and you started the story over and over again, you would walk out of the place, you would have an hour's session with somebody, they would open up and you would tell them the issues, the problems.

You would be left with a child thinking there was consistently something wrong, and there was, and you would be left with an open can. Nobody ever could close the can. And it's the constant changing of people too. They find somebody they trust and then all of a sudden they move on. And sure, I wish I had the finances to be able to have taken my son consistently to see a psychologist. But that's not always possible, financially it's not possible. So I understand we're here to do something about it, but what is being done about it in this area?

PATRICK MCGORRY: I think the last lady made a really great point which repeatedly, people trust someone, and then that person moves on, you know. It's a huge problem in services and there's not enough skill, there are not enough trained people who know how to work with young people. There's a small number and we're trying to grow those workforces.

So I'm not saying we've got all the solutions, but we can get them, but only if it's taken seriously. And you've had the courage to come here today and share your stories, even though it must, because I just can't imagine how painful it is for you to tell those stories. But thank you for doing it and hopefully you will be listened to and you will be heard and we can actually do something.

(applause)

DEE MCINTYRE: It's a really hard thing to deal with and as a family and as a parent, you, you do want your privacy and you do need your privacy when it first happens but I think that we really need to look at the bigger picture and we need to get a message across to society and to the kids that this is a huge problem because it is and I want to talk about it so that it's out there and that people are aware that it's happening and that it could be their kids that it's going to happen to.

KERRY O'BRIEN: As it happens, today is World Suicide Prevention Day. I think we can fairly say the people who have spoken tonight have made their contribution.

The City of Casey Steering Committee declined to be interviewed, as did the Victorian Department of Health.

Both have provided statements to Four Corners which are on our website.

Six days ago, the Victorian Minister for Mental Health, Mary Wooldridge announced that her government is allocating nearly $150,000 of this year's Headspace Mental Health funding to a dedicated worker for suicide prevention in the area we've highlighted tonight.

In other words, existing funding will pay for one dedicated worker for 12 months.

I think we'll leave it there for this week.

Until next Monday, good night.

END

Background Information

GOVERNMENT RESPONSES

Youth Suicide Statement | The Victorian Department of Health - Read this statement sent to Four Corners by The Victorian Department of Health in relation to the report "There is No 3G in Heaven". [PDF 217Kb]

City of Casey Response - The City of Casey Steering Committee declined an interview with Four Corners. See the response from the Chair of the Steering Committee. [PDF 327Kb]

NATIONAL CRISIS COUNSELLING SERVICES

BeyondBlue Information Line: 1300 22 46 36 - For information about depression, anxiety and related substance abuse disorders, available treatments and where to get help, for the cost of a local call. www.beyondblue.org.au/

Headspace - The National Youth Mental Health Foundation. There are 40 headspace centres located across the country where young people, 12-25 years, can get health advice, support and information. To find a headspace centre visit the website. www.headspace.org.au/

Head Room - Aims to inform young people, their caregivers and service providers about positive mental health. www.headroom.net.au/

Kids Help Line: 1800 551 800 - National 24 hour free telephone counselling service for children and young people under the age of 18. kidshelpline.com.au/

Lifeline: 13 11 14 - National 24 hour telephone counselling service for the cost of a local call. www.lifeline.org.au/

Mens Line Australia: 1300 78 99 78 - National 24 hour telephone counselling service for the cost of a local call. www.mensline.org.au/

The mindhealthconnect website is designed to help you access reliable and relevant information about mental health issues and services. An Australian Government initiative. www.mindhealthconnect.org.au/

Reach Out- From everyday troubles through to really tough times, take the first step with ReachOut.com, Australia's leading online youth mental health service. au.reachout.com/

Salvo Counselling Line: 1300 36 36 22 - 24 hour telephone counselling service from the Salvos. salvos.org.au/salvocareline/

SANE Australia Helpline: 1800 18 SANE (7263) - SANE Australia is a national charity working for a better life for people affected by mental illness. Call free from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm EST. http://www.sane.org/

Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 - The Suicide Call Back Service provides crisis counselling to people at risk of suicide, carers for someone who is suicidal and those bereaved by suicide, 24 hours per day 7 days a week across Australia. www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

Youthbeyondblue - Get Help: 1300 22 4636 - Advice, support and information about depression and anxiety for young people. www.youthbeyondblue.com/get-help/

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Club Speranza - A Special Needs Survey: Club Speranza is inviting all those families who have experienced a suicide in the last five years and particularly suicide in care as defined to contact us to register for a research project to examine the consequences in the family in terms of PTSD, emotional, physical damage, and financial hardship. Visit their website for details. www.clubsperanza.org.au/

The Compassionate Friends New South Wales - To assist families in the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child and to provide information to help others be supportive. www.thecompassionatefriends.org.au/

Hope for Life | Salvation Army - The information and training programs which are available through Hope for Life are designed to help you to know how to respond to people who may be at risk. suicideprevention.salvos.org.au/

Inside Info | The City of Casey's Youth Website - The City of Casey provides a generalist youth service that works with young people aged 10 to 25 years who live, work, study or have strong links to the Casey community. www.casey.vic.gov.au/insideinfo/

LIFE (Living is for Everyone) The National Suicide Prevention Strategy website - Dedicated to providing the best available evidence and resources to guide activities aimed at reducing the rate at which people take their lives in Australia, this site is designed for people across the community who are involved in suicide and self-harm prevention activities. www.livingisforeveryone.com.au/

National Centre Against Bullying - The mission of the National Centre Against Bullying (NCAB) is to create schools and other environments that are strong, connected and caring, and to reduce bullying and minimise its harm on young people. www.ncab.org.au/

The Suicide Prevention Australia website provides information for people and their families who are dealing with depression, mental illness or other stressful situations that can lead people to feel suicidal. www.suicideprevention.com.au/

White Wreath Assoc Ltd - Action Against Suicide | 1300 766 177 - Mental health advocacy based in Queensland, supporting people who have been directly affected by suicide and those who are affected by mental illness/disorders. www.whitewreath.com/

World Suicide Prevention Day - The 2012 international theme for World Suicide Prevention Day is Suicide Prevention Across the Globe: Strengthening Protective Factors and Instilling Hope. Go to their website for more information. www.wspd.org.au/

The Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre - Exploring the role of technologies in improving mental health and wellbeing for young people aged 12-25. Based in Melbourne, Australia. www.youngandwellcrc.org.au

SOCIAL MEDIA

Beyondblue | @beyondblueorg - twitter.com/beyondblueorg

Headspace | @headspace_aus - twitter.com/headspace_aus

Lifeline Australia | @LifelineAust - twitter.com/LifelineAust

Reach Out | @ReachOut_AUS - twitter.com/Reachout_Aus

Coming Together To Prevent Youth Suicide - This facebook group is an initiative of Thom Hartland and Jessica Cummings, former students from Beaconhills College.

NEWS AND MEDIA

Opinion: A deadly silence that has to end | SMH | 10 Sep 2012 - The culture of shame and secrecy surrounding suicide is preventing more young lives from being saved. By Patrick McGorry.

Casey offers expert help in suicide battle | Casey Weekly Cranbourne | 7 Sep 2012 - A suicide prevention specialist will work with Casey schools, community organisations and counsellors to help them tackle a spate of youth suicides in the area.

Opinion: And why might suicide hit gay youth hardest? | ABC The Drum | 7 Sep 2012 - The undertone that homosexuality will lead you to an early grave is not something that sits easily on the restless mind of a teenager, writes Brendan Maclean.

Video: Remote community highlights Indigenous youth suicide concerns | 7.30 | 6 Sep 2012 - Aboriginal communities in Western Australia's Kimberley region represent the key concerns about an epidemic of Indigenous youth suicide with some lateral thinking being used in the search for answers.

Media Release: New resources for youth mental health in south-east | Vic Minister for Mental Health | 4 Sep 2012 - The Victorian Coalition Government has announced it will fund a dedicated worker to provide leadership for local suicide prevention activity in Casey and Cardinia.

How Texting and IMing Helps Introverted Teens | TIME | 30 Aug 2012 - Digital communication may seem impersonal, but that distance may also provide some benefits, especially for troubled teens.

Teenage suicides raise alarm | The West Australian | 2 Aug 2012 - The deaths of three Perth high school students in the past week have provoked calls for better awareness of mental illness and its role in teen suicide.

One girl's search for elusive answers amid the grief of teenage rail suicide | The Age | 9 Jun 2012 - Jessica Cummings is only 18 and she's already grieved at the funerals of too many teenagers, all suicide cases.

Mum pleads for open talks on suicide | ABC News | 22 May 2012 - A community in Western Australia's wheatbelt, which has recently had several incidences of youth suicide, has been told to talk openly about the issue by a mother who lost two sons to suicide.

Group take suicide prevention to social media | ABC Local | 17 Apr 2012 - A Cairns welfare group is embracing social media to help address the issue of youth suicide.

Audio: Youth suicide | ABC Sunday Nights | 9 Oct 2011 - Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15 to 24 - alongside road and traffic accidents; and 3 out of 4 suicides are men and boys. Our government has been increasing spending on mental health in recent years, but is money the chief answer? Report featuring Ian Hickie, Sue Berry, Colin Tatz, Pat McGorry and Paul Martin.

FURTHER READING

Depression In Teenagers and Young Adults | Black Dog Institute - One in five children and adolescents is affected by mental health problems and disorders. Those aged 18-24 have the highest prevalence of mental disorders of any age group. Read more key points and signs of depression in adolescence, and information on where to get help.

Getting help for depression and anxiety - confidentiality and costs | Beyond Blue - Many young people with depression or anxiety ask friends and family to support them when they decide to get help. But if you don't want anyone in your life to know you're having troubles, that's OK - and it shouldn't stop you from talking to a health professional. Unless your safety or the safety of someone else is at risk, anything you tell a health professional will stay between the two of you. And you don't need to worry about the cost - Medicare can cover most or all of the cost of your treatment. Read more.

Fact Sheet: Depression and anxiety in young people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex | Youthbeyondblue - Adolescence is a turbulent time for most young people. For young people who are same-sex attracted (gay, lesbian or bisexual), transgender or intersex, the challenges can be even greater. They might find their feelings difficult to talk about, they may feel that nobody else is in their situation and they may also experience bullying and abuse - all of which can increase the risk of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety disorders. Download this fact sheet from Youthbeyondblue.

The LIFE Framework is the latest in a series of national suicide prevention initiatives that began in the early 1990s. It provides national strategy for action based on the best available evidence to guide activities aimed at reducing the rate at which people take their own lives.

Health of the world's adolescents: a synthesis of internationally comparable data | The Lancet Volume 379, Issue 9826 | 25 Apr 2012 - Extract: We propose a series of steps that include better coordination and use of data collected across countries, greater harmonisation of school-based surveys, further development of strategies for socially marginalised youth, targeted research into the validity and use of these health indicators, advocating for adolescent-health information within new global health initiatives, and a recommendation that every country produce a regular report on the health of its adolescents.

Fact File: Depression | ABC Health & Wellbeing - How do you know whether that lingering melancholy is genuine depression, or just an everyday dose of the blues? In our updated version of our 'Dark Side of the Mood' feature we explain the latest concepts, treatments and therapies.

RELATED 4 CORNERS PROGRAMS

The Bullies' Playground | 6 April 2009 - Children across Australia talk about the alarming impact of bullying on their lives. Flash Video Presentation

A Deathly Silence | 15 May 2006 - Breaking the taboo of silence that surrounds the act of suicide, its illusory appeal to the vulnerable and its cruel toll on the living.