I was driving back to the clinic after another busy morning working as the school doctor as part of the Doctors in Schools Program. My mind was busy, reflecting on the morning session filled with young people presenting with a range of concerns.

Wellbeing programs in schools don’t address the root cause of mental illness in our young people. Credit:Shutterstock

Deep in reverie, I stopped at a roundabout and realised I was passing the town cemetery. With a cold shiver I realised that this was the resting place of two of my cousins. Two boys, who died just six weeks apart, more than 30 years ago. I never knew them; they died a few weeks before my birth.

Philip was 18 and his older brother Peter was 19. Growing up I was told they died in an accident, and my child's imagination automatically assumed a car accident.

My nanna confusingly told me once "they died of sadness". Once I was old enough, I understood the tragic reality. They took their own lives.