A Canberra mental health charity has been put into voluntary administration after 25 years of operation, owing an estimated $1 million to creditors.
Suicide prevention charity OzHelp Foundation was founded in 2001 after a Canberra apprentice took his own life.
It promoted mental health awareness and offered counselling to people in industries with higher rates of suicide.
These sectors include construction, transport and logistics.
The OzHelp Foundation Board placed the charity into voluntary administration on July 31.
They appointed Jonathon Colbran and Adam Cormack, from RSM Australia Partners, joint and several voluntary administrators of the foundation.
The administrators said they are seeing an increasing number of charities going under.
One million owed
The administrators said OzHelp owed approximately $1 million to fewer than 15 creditors.
The majority of money is owed to the federal and ACT governments in relation to unacquitted grants.
"At this early stage, all figures are preliminary and subject to change as we undertake a more detailed review of the Foundation's books and records and engage with creditors," Mr Cormack said.
The charity had 28 staff members in the 2022-23 financial year.
They initially offered redundancies to try to reduce costs, but were forced to let the last nine employees go.
The staff were paid their wages, superannuation and entitlements in full, chief executive officer Caroline Walsh said.
"The decision to put the Foundation into voluntary administration has been a deeply painful one and comes after months of exploring options to increase revenue and reduce costs," she said.
"[Offering redundancies] was incredibly tough - they were the beating heart of our Foundation. However, it wasn't enough to continue our services."
Deficit in 2022
Ms Walsh joined the organisation in November 2023, having previously been a board member.
In an announcement on the website, OzHelp said the previous 12 months had been "a critical period of national growth".
'According to the 2022-23 report, the charity had a loss of $211,470 in 2023 and less than $350,000 in net assets.
"While we achieved significant growth in our revenue due to increased funding from the Department of Health and strong expansion of our fee for service revenue from workplaces, we also invested heavily in the development of our capability and national footprint," the report said.
"We are seeing positive growth in the demand for our services and also revenue from workplaces.
"We expect our investment in capability in 2022-23 to promote meaningful growth in revenue opportunities
"We are forecasting a return to a healthy surplus in 2023-24 and after the first three to four months we are confident that will be the result."
More charities are entering voluntary administration, Mr Colbran said.
"It's a very challenging economic environment, and unfortunately we are seeing more entities, including not-for-profits, seeking expert assistance to help them navigate both legacy and short-term financial challenges" he said.
Leader in suicide prevention
Many volunteers, former staff members and clients would find the news upsetting, Ms Walsh said.
"This is an incredibly challenging day," she said.
"OzHelp has been a leader in raising awareness and proactively delivering "boots-on-the-ground" mental health and suicide prevention services."
OzHelp provided health screenings, toolbox talks and barbecues to worksites across the country.
"OzHelp was a leader in suicide prevention supports," Ms Walsh said.
"In our absence, we encourage the Commonwealth and State Governments to continue to fund essential mental health and wellbeing services for the most vulnerable, at-risk, and hard-to-reach members of our community."
Monash University research found suicide was more common among construction workers and those in the transport industry.
The risk of suicide amongst lower skilled construction workers was almost double the general population.
Researchers said suicide risk is higher in occupations with high job demand, low autonomy or control, shift work, physical danger and access to a means of suicide.
'Deteriorating financial position'
COVID-19 and increased competition for financial support played were partly behind the closure, OzHelp Foundation board chair Leanne Wells said.
"This was an incredibly difficult decision for the Board to make, but was the only responsible option left open to us in the face of the Foundation's long-term deteriorating financial position," Ms Wells said.
She said factors included COVID-19, an unsustainable and costly model, the challenges of staying contemporary and increased competition for funds were behind the administration.
"We are deeply saddened and disappointed that the Foundation is unable to continue its important and impactful work," Ms Wells said.
"However, we are also immensely proud of the Foundation's legacy of helping hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Australians."
The closure has also impacted 80 ongoing clients receiving counselling and wellbeing support.
Transition plans were implemented to support those people, Ms Walsh said.
"We have ... provided contact details for alternative mental health and wellbeing providers to employers and organisations who relied upon our services," she said.
Mr Cormack said the first meeting of creditors would be held online and in-person in Canberra on August 12.
He said creditors should contact RSM at adam.cormack@rsm.com.au
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