You and Mike have good points, and this comes against a backdrop of severe underfunding within both the health system and the mental health system, not to mention front line police.
I'm aware of a family with an adult child who has twice attempted suicide, and both times the family have desperately called for help to the police and mental health services. Both times, although the police maintained contact by phone, both services were so overloaded they couldn't attend.
They've still not been able to get in person follow ups and it's been two weeks now. This is a family that has had a history of mental illness but been able to look after their own, all working as much as they are able and dealing with it as best they can amongst themselves. They never reach out unless they have to, and right now, the system is failing them, and many, many others.
We have a high suicide rate in this country, along with record rates of homelessness and mental illness. Poverty has increased dramatically, as has meth and alcohol use, and we're losing that battle.
I'm not educated enough on ngos or how charities operate to comment, and of course am naturally inclined to blame this and previous governments - but right now, it's a crisis. I don't know the answers here, but I can point to the reckless slashing of programmes, funding and core services that this government have implemented.
The system is fundamentally broken, and the cynic in me, along with neoliberal patterns the world over, points to privatisation and the fact that the parties of the right just don't care enough as this isn't their voter base, nor is it within their ideologies.