29/03/2026
Every year in Australia, tens of thousands of children experience the death of a parent, sibling or close family member. Many return to school pretending to be fine while carrying a weight that would floor most adults. They struggle to concentrate, withdraw from friends, or act out in ways that are misunderstood. Years later, this early grief often appears as depression, anxiety, substance use or suicidal distress. By the time help arrives, the human and financial costs are already high.
Dr Angela Jackson, Social Policy Commissioner at the Productivity Commission, starts from a simple idea. “We know that investing in our health today will pay off in the future; prevention is better (and cheaper) than the cure. It is advice the Productivity Commission thinks governments should also follow.” In her work on delivering quality care more efficiently, prevention is described as one of the strongest levers for improving well-being and productivity.
The numbers she cites are hard to ignore. The Productivity Commission estimates that an investment of around A$1.5 billion in prevention programs over five years could save governments about $2.7 billion in health and social care costs over ten years. When wider health, social and economic benefits are included, the total benefit rises to roughly $5.4 billion, or about 2.1 times the original investment. At the same time, health and social care now account for most of the long-term fiscal pressures facing federal and state budgets. Without a major shift toward prevention, spending will continue to rise while distress grows.
Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Su***de Prevention Emma McBride applies the same logic to su***de. "Su***de and suicidal distress can be prevented, and to do so, we need a comprehensive approach that brings together all governments, services, and communities. An approach that is genuinely preventative and reduces the likelihood of distress occurring in the first place.” Her words underline a shared direction. Prevention is no longer a side note. It is becoming a central test of whether we are serious about mental health reform.
So what does meaningful prevention look like in practice, not just in policy documents? At A Friend's Place, the National Centre for Childhood Grief, it looks like a seven-year-old learning that crying for their mum is not a sign of weakness but a natural response to love. It looks like a twelve-year-old at camp, realising they are not the only one who dreads Father’s Day, and a parent finally being shown how to talk with their child about the person who died instead of staying silent out of fear.
A Friend’s Place has provided free, specialist bereavement counselling for children aged 3 to 17 and their families for 32 years. From July 2024 to June 2025, the service delivered 2,030 counselling sessions to children and adults, with clients from every Australian state and territory. Over the past five years, the number of children counselled has more than doubled, a 106 per cent increase, with an average annual growth rate of around 13 per cent. Outcomes data show consistent gains across four key pillars: feeling safe and understood, learning about grief and coping skills, rebuilding connections and a sense of belonging, and regaining hope and a sense of the future.
These results are backed by international evidence. Large population studies show that childhood bereavement is linked to a higher risk of common psychiatric disorders in adulthood, including depression, anxiety, substance use and stress-related conditions. A 2025 Swedish cohort study involving more than 1.7 million people found that childhood bereavement significantly increased the risk of later psychiatric disorders, and that part of this effect was explained by levels of stress resilience. Children who have the chance to build coping skills and make sense of their grief face a lower risk of severe mental ill health later on.
The National Prevention and Early Intervention Framework proposed by the Productivity Commission aims to bring this kind of work into government decision-making. The framework would encourage all levels of government to plan and invest together, recognise where costs and benefits fall across portfolios, and include rigorous evaluation for prevention programs. Childhood bereavement fits directly into that ambition, as a measurable risk factor for later mental health and su***de, where effective early support is already delivering results.
For A Friend’s Place, and for the children and families it serves, this framework is an invitation to act. Policymakers should recognise childhood grief support as core social and economic infrastructure and back this with long-term investment. This includes embedding bereavement services into schools, health, and justice systems, and setting funding models that reflect the cross-portfolio benefits of early intervention.
This is where the national conversation now needs to turn. If prevention is indeed “better (and cheaper) than the cure”, as Dr Angela Jackson argues, and if su***de and suicidal distress “can be prevented”, as Emma McBride insists, then childhood grief must be front and centre in how Australia thinks about prevention.
The question for policymakers, philanthropists, and business leaders is simple: Will you allocate resources to evidence-based, specialist services like A Friend's Place and to integrating bereavement support across schools, healthcare, and community settings? Or will childhood grief continue to go unrecognised in public policy, resulting in costs for decades to come?
