Conclusion
Parents and primary caregivers play a vital role as an initial contact and often set in motion the help-seeking process to accessing professional services (Rickwood et al., 2007). It is recognised that adolescents in their early to mid-teens still depend on their parents to help them identify the presence of mental health problems and facilitate appropriate help-seeking behaviour . This study highlights the significant delays in treatment experienced by adolescents with suicidal ideation or behaviour, and how their caregiver’s prior experience of suicidality is associated with these pathways and delays. Future research should clarify whether caregiver perceived helpfulness of their prior mental health treatment helps explain why prior caregiver suicidality is related to longer treatment delays. .