‘She’ll Be Right’… Not Really then understood what he now does, he would

judge her differently, for he now knows that she

The phrase that can dismiss it all… Except suicide. could not help herself.”

By Megan Lynch their own lives than dying in a motor vehicle

accident. Overall, each year, approximately 2,500
people are killed by suicide in Australia.

‘Never be too proud to reach out and ask for a

hand,” said Dan, a young man who told his story
with the help of Beyondblue. “It will change
your life.”

On the 25th of October, 2001, when Dan was 11-

The Black Dog
‘She’ll be right.’ It’s an idiom, passed down
through our Aussie ancestors, back to the times
of World War I, when our dear ANZACs arrived
on the banks of Gallipoli, preparing to fight a
battle that was already lost from the beginning. It
often expresses the meaning that ‘whatever is
wrong will sort itself out with time’. It is a good
theory when it is put into perspective. However,
when suicide is the issue placed on the table, can
the same really be said?
According to the Black Dog Institute, suicide is
one of the most prevalent causes of death in
Australia, with 15 to 44-year-olds being the most
at risk. It’s even been speculated that young
Australians have a higher likelihood of taking
years-old, his father committed suicide. Dan,
despite only being a little boy, had been able to
notice the shift in his father’s behaviours, and
perhaps even the black dog lurking in his
shadow. “He was incredibly proud, he was the
life of the party and he meant the world to so
many people. But he didn’t know how to ask for
help, and he didn’t know how to accept help.”
This problem of being ‘too proud’ or being
‘unsure’ about how to ask for help has been a
huge issue throughout the generations, and has
not changed.
In the Australian novel, Romulus, My Father, a
memoir written by Raimond Gaita, suicide is
mentioned constantly. Raimond’s mother and
father both attempted it, and his mother
eventually succeeded in the end, as does her
second husband, Mitru. All three were proud, but
more importantly, neither knew how to ask for
help. “No doubt we were ignorant of the nature
of such illness, as many people still are today,”
said Raimond when he spoke of his mother’s
suicide. “Years later, Hora told me that, had he
Romulus, My Father By Raimond Gaita
Of course, these incidents occurred around the
1950s and 1960s, a time that is often considered
‘prosperous’ after the tragedy that was the
Second World War. However, despite the time
that has passed, the stigma or ‘taboo’ surrounding
suicide has remained.
In Australian media, suicide is highly censored.
“There are guidelines around how suicide should
and should not be reported,” states Thomas Gray
of the ABC. “I mean, no one wants to be
responsible for triggering the kind of distress that
might lead someone to suicide.”
Even though this may be well-intended, could
this action be actually fuelling the stigma?
According to an article by Natasha Mitchell of
the ABC, called The Last Taboo: Talking About
Suicide, the very act of surviving suicide is
stigmatised, not just by the media, but by the
medical profession itself. “Whether we like to
hear it or not, a suicide attempt can be a defining
point in a survivor’s life,” says Natasha in her
article. “It’s also one of the most stigmatised,
even within the medical profession where
survivors are often seen as difficult or risky
patients.”
Surely, this stigma in the medical profession
doesn’t make many Australians feel safe to
approach it when they need help. Of course no
one would want help if the very people that are
supposed to be helping them are the ones making
them feel even more uncomfortable about their
mental wellbeing.
In Romulus, my Father, Gaita’s father was so
adamant about seeking help from medical
professionals that he almost resorted to violence
against his own son. “This must have appeared
threatening to him,” explains Gaita in his
memoir, “because he picked up an axe and swore
that he would cut our heads off…” If this doesn’t
express the severity of the issue, than I am
uncertain of what else can.
Natasha’s article also highlights that in the
medical profession, suicide is also stigmatised in
the way in which it is treated. “In public
awareness campaigns, some argue we have come
to sanitise the experience of suicidal feelings,”
states Natasha. “See your doctor. Mental illness
is just like diabetes or heart disease. It can be
treated. Pop a pill and your existential self will
thank you.”
Suicidal thoughts and mental illness do not work
in this way. Of course, medication can assist in
controlling these thoughts and feelings, but it
doesn’t remove them or ‘treat’ them. Unless
these feelings and thoughts are discussed, than
you can wave goodbye to recovery.
Fortunately, in spite of all the stigmas that
surround suicide, recent events have begun to
fuel discussion in Australia.
In January of this year, 14-year-old Amy ‘Dolly’
Everett, after relentless cyberbullying, took her
own life. At the time, no one was aware of how
tortured her soul was. Not until it was too late.
Not until she was gone.
However, ever since her passing, there has been
an outcry for change.
Because of this little girl’s death, suicide
prevention is on the forefront of everyone’s
minds. The question of ‘Imagine if this was your
own daughter’ is constantly being asked. Would
you want her to suffer in silence, like Dolly did,
or would you prefer that she spoke up? I think
we all know what the answer would be.
‘She’ll be right’. It is a phrase of Aussie pride.
And yet it could be a phrase that also disguises
the real problem here; that too many people are
too afraid to ask for help. This phrase describes
how Australians view all types of hardships at
this point in our history, including suicide. It is
not okay, and must be removed from our
vocabulary, otherwise we may stand to lose
everything we, as Australians and as people, hold
dear.
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