Mental Health
The Right to Heal
Mental health is not a niche issue. It is not a weakness. It is not a Western indulgence or a luxury concern for people with too much time to think.
One in five Australians experiences a mental health condition every year. Eight people die by suicide every single day. And yet access to meaningful, affordable mental health care in this country remains — for millions of people — either out of reach financially, geographically, or both.
We are not clinicians. We are not researchers or mental health professionals. WeRise does not pretend to have all the answers to a crisis this complex and we would be deeply suspicious of anyone who claimed they did.
What we do know is this: the professionals who work in this system are telling us it is broken. The people trying to access it are telling us it is failing them. And the data is telling us the gap between what Australians need and what they can actually access is widening, not closing.
This page exists to name the problems clearly, point to what the evidence shows works, and make the case for treating mental health as what it actually is — a public health emergency that deserves a public health response.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
The Problem Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud
Australia has a mental health system that works beautifully — if you have money, live in a city, and can wait six months for an appointment.
For everyone else, it is a maze of referrals, waitlists, out-of-pocket costs and underfunded services that consistently fails the people who need it most.
This is not a funding problem alone. It is a values problem. We have collectively decided — through policy, through budget allocation, through decades of inaction — that mental health is somehow less urgent than physical health. That an infection requiring antibiotics is a medical emergency, but a mind in crisis is a personal failing to be managed quietly.
It is not. And the data makes that impossible to ignore.
The Scale of the Crisis
One in five Australians experiences a mental health condition every year. More than two in five will experience one in their lifetime. Mental illness is the leading burden of disease for Australians aged 15 to 24 — our youngest adults, at the most formative period of their lives.
Eight Australians die by suicide every single day. Three thousand every year. Men account for three quarters of those deaths — a statistic that says as much about how we socialise men as it does about the mental health system itself.
These are not edge case numbers. They are not statistics about other people. They are about your colleagues, your family members, your neighbours, and possibly yourself.
The Access Problem
Knowing you need help and being able to get it are two entirely different things in Australia.
More than one in five Australians delayed or avoided seeing a health professional due to cost in 2023-24. For psychologists and psychiatrists specifically, that figure rises to nearly one in four. InSight+
Out-of-pocket costs for mental health services have risen nearly five times the rate of inflation in three years. Seeing a psychiatrist now costs over $100 out of pocket — on top of whatever Medicare covers — if you can get an appointment at all. System2
Waiting lists of two to six months are common across much of Australia. CareCostIndex In regional and remote areas the situation is significantly worse. In some communities, specialist psychiatric care is effectively unavailable entirely.
The Better Access scheme provides ten Medicare-subsidised psychology sessions per year. For mild to moderate anxiety or depression, that may be adequate. For complex trauma, personality disorders, severe depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, ten sessions per year is not a treatment plan. It is a gesture.
The Workforce Crisis
You cannot fix a mental health system without mental health workers — and Australia is running short of them.
Public psychiatrists in New South Wales are resigning in significant numbers. Workforce shortages persist nationwide. The people holding the system together are burning out under the weight of demand that consistently outstrips supply.
Training more practitioners takes years. But it has to start now — and it has to be accompanied by conditions that make public mental health work sustainable rather than a path to burnout.
The Prevention Gap
Australia spends approximately $12 billion annually on mental health. The majority of that goes to crisis intervention — emergency departments, acute inpatient care, crisis lines.
Prevention and early intervention — school based programs, community mental health support, early childhood services — receive a fraction of that investment, despite overwhelming evidence that early intervention produces dramatically better outcomes and significantly reduces long-term costs.
We keep funding the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We know the fence at the top would be cheaper and more effective. We keep choosing the ambulance.
What Needs to Change
The professionals working in this system have been saying the same things for years. WeRise is not adding new knowledge here — we are amplifying what clinicians, researchers and people with lived experience have been telling governments that largely haven’t listened:
- More bulk billed psychology sessions — ten per year is not enough for complex conditions. The evidence suggests a minimum of twenty for meaningful treatment of moderate to severe presentations.
- Proper Medicare rebates for psychiatrists that reflect actual costs — closing the gap between what Medicare pays and what care actually costs.
- Genuine investment in prevention — school based mental health literacy, early intervention programs, and community support that catches people before they reach crisis point.
- Community controlled mental health services for Indigenous Australians — not generic services parachuted into communities, but culturally appropriate, community designed and community led care. The evidence for this approach is clear and consistent.
- Integrating mental health into primary care — treating the mind and the body as the connected system they actually are, rather than routing people through separate, disconnected services.
And listening. Actually listening to the people who deliver care about what they need to deliver it properly.
A Personal Note
The cost of getting a mental health diagnosis in Australia — the referrals, the assessments, the appointments — can run to thousands of dollars before any treatment even begins. For many people, that cost goes on a credit card. For many others, it simply doesn’t happen at all.
That is not a health system. That is a system that rations care by wealth.
The right to heal should not depend on your postcode or your bank balance. It should not require going into debt to find out what is wrong. It should not mean waiting six months while your condition worsens because the system cannot absorb the demand.
Mental health is health. It deserves to be treated that way.
Sources: ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2022 / National Mental Health Commission Report Card 2024 / System 2 Youth Mental Health Report 2025 / PA Foundation Mental Health Statistics / AIHW Mental Health Services in Australia 2024
Mental Health Care in Australia
The Access Gap
1 in 4 Australians can't afford to see a psychologist.
Out-of-pocket costs have risen nearly 5 times the rate of inflation in three years. Seeing a psychiatrist now costs over $100 out of pocket — if you can get an appointment at all. Waiting lists of 2-6 months are standard.
The Workforce Crisis
We don't have enough practitioners — and its getting worse.
Public psychiatrists are resigning in waves. Regional and remote Australians wait significantly longer than city residents for the same care. The system isn’t just underfunded — it’s understaffed and burning out the people holding it together.
The Youth Emergency
Mental illness is the leading burden of disease for Australians aged 15–24.
Almost 1 in 4 young Australians experience a mental health condition. They’re also the least likely to be able to afford treatment. Early intervention works — but only if you can access it.
Indigenous Mental Health
Suicide rates in some remote communities are among the highest in the world.
The intersection of intergenerational trauma, poverty, geographic isolation and systemic racism creates a mental health crisis that generic services — designed elsewhere, delivered without cultural context — consistently fail to address.
Prevention vs Crisis
We fund the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
Australia spends $12 billion annually on mental health — most of it on crisis intervention. Early prevention, school-based programs, and community support receive a fraction of that. We know prevention works. We just keep choosing not to fund it.
If you need support right now:
- Lifeline — 13 11 14 — lifeline.org.au
- 24/7 Suicide Call Back Service — 1300 659 467 — suicidecallbackservice.org.au — 24/7
- Beyond Blue — 1300 22 4636 — beyondblue.org.au — 24/7
Men
- MensLine Australia — 1300 789 978 — mensline.org.au — 24/7
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples - 13YARN — 13 92 76 — 13yarn.org.au — 24/7 — staffed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis supporters
- Brother to Brother — 1800 435 799 — specifically for Aboriginal men
Children & Young People (5–25)
- Kids Helpline — 1800 55 1800 — kidshelpline.com.au 24/7
- Headspace — 1800 650 890 — headspace.org.au — 9am to 1am daily
LGBTQIA+
- QLife — 1800 184 527 — qlife.org.au — 3pm to midnight daily
Perinatal & New Parents
- PANDA — 1300 726 306 — panda.org.au — Monday to Saturday
Veterans & Defence Personnel
- Open Arms — 1800 011 046 — openarms.gov.au — 24/7
Non-English Speakers
- Translating & Interpreting Service — 131 450 — ask to be connected to Lifeline
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