Pharmacists are on the frontline of Australia’s mental health battle, but they’re often overlooked

Almost innocuous in its delivery, the customer’s question stopped Claire O’Reilly in her tracks.

“How many of these do I need to kill myself?” the woman asked from across the counter.

For Australia’s community or retail pharmacists, tackling the tricky topics is all part and parcel of donning the white coat. Gatekeepers to medications, and a familiar face for those navigating the mental health system, pharmacists play a unique — albeit, often overlooked — role in suicide prevention.

Still, those 10 words, uttered a decade ago — so complex in their simplicity — caught O’Reilly off-guard.