A South Australian MLC who lost her father to suicide has pledged to advocate for better access mental health services across the state hours after his death.
Robert Game, the father of One Nation upper house MP Sarah Game, took his own life on Thursday. He was 71.
Ms Game said there were not enough low-barrier mental health services across SA, particularly in the regions.
"I absolutely know that very sadly, although this has been a very big tragedy for our family and my three children, I'm not alone in my grief, and my father was not alone in his despair at the end of his life," Ms Game said.
"It's really difficult for people, if they're in a highly distressed state, which unfortunately a lot of people can relate to, to have to ring up a GP, go on hold, wait for an appointment, get referred off to a psychologist or similar.
"If they can be supported through those despairing moments, you've got a good chance of keeping them [alive].
"They just really need somewhere where they can just walk in."
Ms Game said the only 24/7 walk-in mental health centre in SA that she knew of was in Adelaide on Grenfell St, which was not advertised well enough.
"My other area is trying to think about diversity in funding, to having some sort of similar centres around in the regions," she said.
Lifeline Connect offers a walk-in mental health service in Clare, but it is not open 24 hours.
"The government needs to do more, and have more funding for these low-barrier services," she said.
"But there are things that we can do in the community, like being kind, being forgiving, and including people," she said.
Remembering Robert
Ms Game remembered her father as being strong and resilient.
"He was a really highly resilient man who overcame lots of adversity, I had huge respect for him," she said.
"He grew up in terrible poverty conditions and a really broken home life, and he went on to put himself through dental school, he was in the navy for over 20 years and he was always a really good provider for family.
"He passed on lots of good lessons to me about resilience, being grateful and seizing opportunities and really just working hard for everything."
She said it was important to reduce the stigma around suicide.
"Particularly in my position I think, I've got an opportunity to have a voice, and anything I can do to reduce the stigma particularly for families that have had a suicide ... I want to do that," she said.
