Two youth suicide clusters in Melbourne’s east involving the deaths of 10 people, the youngest aged 13, have raised new concerns about Victoria’s troubled mental health system.
Youth mental health services in the east were put on alert in response to rising teenage tragedies over nine months, but Victoria’s health watchdogs have failed to launch a review to determine if there are any systemic issues or access issues at the heart of the cases.
A total of 10 young people, including at least six children under 16, died in September-October last year and May this year.
The mass tragedies are the latest revelations regarding Victoria’s youth mental health system to emerge during an investigation by The Age, and follow the closure of a children’s mental health service at a major Melbourne hospital this month pending a bullying investigation into its staff. In parliament on Friday, opposition health spokesperson Georgie Crozier named the service as Austin Health’s child inpatient unit.
Separately, the boss of Victoria’s flagship youth mental health service resigned this month, a day after it was revealed she was leading the Parkville Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Service as a fly-in, fly-out CEO, as reports mount of violence, drug use and patient deaths in its first year of operation.
The state coroner is awaiting briefs of evidence before deciding whether to group the teen death cases together for investigation, or examine each individually.
Victoria’s Department of Health confirmed its youth mental health services provided post-suicide support to the area after being alerted to the rising deaths. But because it does not have records of the children receiving help at public hospitals before they died, neither the Chief Psychiatrist, Safer Care Victoria nor the Suicide Prevention and Response Office are reviewing the suitability or capacity of services in the area.
A mental health specialist working in Melbourne’s east, who is not authorised to speak publicly, said most children and families seeking help via emergency department and phone triage lines did not receive admission to specialised public child and youth mental health services, and they feared lives were being lost as a result.
“There are definitely systemic issues,” the senior clinician said. “How terrible that we weren’t helping them, and they were in this trouble. Obviously, something isn’t working.
“In triage and ED, they reject the majority of kids that present. They reject them because they haven’t got the capacity to see them. They are the kids we should be seeing, but a lot of them get turned away because there’s no capacity for them to be seen.”
Major public hospital networks Eastern Health and Austin Health both operate child and youth mental health services in the city’s east, where the clusters occurred.
A Coroners Court spokesperson confirmed the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network advised it on October 31, 2025, of a potential cluster of deaths, involving people aged 13 to 22, in its service catchment area.
“The investigations into these deaths are in the early stages and once the coronial briefs are received the coroner will review the evidence to determine the next steps of the investigations and if the circumstances of the cases make it appropriate to conduct a cluster investigation,” the spokesperson said.
The coroner was later notified of the suspected suicides of a further four young people, aged 13 to 18, in Melbourne’s east in May this year.
“Coroners are investigating these cases individually and are awaiting coronial briefs of evidence for the investigations.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said the Coroners Court alerted it to suspected suicides in September 2025 and again in May 2026, prompting the Chief Psychiatrist to engage with Eastern Health to undertake post-suicide support activities with local services, including headspace and Victoria Police.
“Every suicide is one too many, and the loss of life to suicide has long-lasting and far-reaching impacts on loved ones and community members,” the spokesperson said.
“While these young people were not receiving care through a public mental health service at the time of their death, the Department of Health, the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist and local services have worked together to support the local communities.”
Youth mental health pioneer Professor Pat McGorry said the scale of the deaths and extreme young age of those involved was unusual and demanded investigation, particularly as they have coincided with a 50 per cent rise in the prevalence of mental ill health in young people in the same age group.
“I’m extremely concerned at the lack of transparency about the situation and the apparent lack of co-ordinated action to respond,” McGorry said.
“In the eastern region, as elsewhere across Victoria, the public mental health system has not been reformed or properly resourced to respond to this public health crisis, and it has been a low priority since the [mental health] royal commission, despite the level of unmet need.
“The result is that young people at great risk who present to emergency departments or triage lines are typically rejected in very large numbers. If this were occurring with any other potentially life-threatening condition, it would be regarded as a scandal.”
Phillipa Thomas, chief executive of peak body Mental Health Victoria, said suicide clusters were complex and unusual occurrences and needed to be examined to determine if the events relate to each other and whether they could have been prevented.
“At this stage it is unclear what, when, and if any contact was in place for each of these young people with mental health services prior to their deaths. Where it was, the coroner will consider the role of safety and quality for each individual. But its August – that’s nearly a full year that’s gone by,” Thomas said.
“I’m troubled by the possibility that these young people may have sought help and not received it. I’m equally troubled by the possibility that they didn’t seek help at all.”
While she could not comment directly on the cases, Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Victorian spokesperson Dr Nardine Elzahaby said the state’s youth mental health system was plagued by gaps.
She said acute public health services had become “adult models retrofitted for young people” which did not meet their needs, while services such as headspace did not cater for those with more severe illness who did not yet need, or could not get into, a specialist mental health service.
“There is a gap. There is a missing middle of patients who require care that are not too unwell to meet youth area mental health criteria, but they are too unwell to be looked after by headspace,” Elzahaby said.
“Do young people have to rely on emergency departments to get child and youth suicide programs? ED is hardly ever the right place for young people, and it really impacts them.”
An Eastern Health spokesperson said the families, friends and communities affected by the recent suicides were in their thoughts, and the service has an active role in co-ordinating post-suicide responses with local services, schools and other agencies to assist vulnerable young people who may be at increased risk.
“In addition to providing specialist inpatient and community-based mental health services, Eastern Health works closely with local primary care providers, schools, community organisations and other partners to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people across the region,” the spokesperson said.
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
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