Arabic version: خدمات الصحة النفسية في الإقليم الشمالي تواجه طلباً يفوق قدرتها
According to ABC News, Northern Territory mental health services are struggling to meet demand, particularly for people whose needs are not considered acute enough for emergency care. TeamHEALTH chief executive Rina Bruinsma described this group as the “missing middle”, saying limited early-intervention and prevention services leave some people receiving support too late.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data cited by ABC News shows the NT has Australia’s highest rates of suicide, self-harm hospitalisation and acute mental illness. The territory recorded 52 suicide deaths in 2024, a rate of 19.3 per 100,000 people, compared with the national average of 11.9. It also has 1.7 times the national rate of self-harm hospitalisations, while 51.7 per cent of Territorians aged 16 to 85 have had a lifetime mental disorder.
Ms Bruinsma said TeamHEALTH’s residential service, which accommodates people before and after hospital stays, operates at 97 per cent occupancy. She said access gaps extend beyond urban areas and can be wider in remote communities that rely on visiting doctors or telehealth. NT Chief Psychiatrist Dr David Mitchell called for better funding for services outside hospitals, arguing that early care can prevent problems from becoming more severe.
Federal Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Assistant Minister Emma McBride said the Australian government was investing in Territory services as part of a nationwide $1.1 billion mental health spend. She pointed to the NT’s first perinatal mental health centre, a planned second centre and a free walk-in clinic in Alice Springs, alongside services in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs.
TeamHEALTH is also employing peer support workers with lived experience, including workers who have previously navigated mental health care themselves. Suicide Prevention Australia executive director of sector advocacy Chris Stone said community-based services and settings could save lives, but many Northern Territory organisations were overwhelmed. Ms Bruinsma said training people with lived experience was one response alongside increased funding.
