Eighteen months into the pandemic, Australia has more case numbers than ever, and our doctors, nurses and other health professionals are reporting alarmingly high rates of exhaustion, burnout and mental health issues. Today, Dr Natasha Smallwood on the stress that healthcare workers are facing and what that means for the health system after the pandemic.

A major new study has found that the therapeutic use of the illicit drug MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy, could cure people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now an Australian psychologist is finally embarking on Australia’s first ever clinical trial using the drug. Today, James Bradley on the healing power of MDMA - and why Australia has been so slow to explore its possibilities.

Despite government promises to fix Australia’s mental health system, experts have identified that young people in particular are still struggling to access urgent care and support. Today, Santilla Chingaipe on why this could be our one chance to fix the ailing mental health care system.

Lockdowns and border closures have led to a specific kind of grief and yearning - homesickness. While homesickness isn’t an official medical condition it was once, with soldiers fighting on foreign soil regularly diagnosed after suffering debilitating symptoms. Today, Dr Melanie Cheng on the origins of homesickness and whether there’s a cure.

A landmark report has quantified the economic and social cost of Australia’s mental health crisis. Today, Rick Morton on how the government’s social policies are causing harm to our most vulnerable communities.

As more of Australia goes into coronavirus isolation, advice is being offered on how to manage mental health during a viral pandemic that forces us to separate. We speak to a Melbourne family who have been in isolation for almost 80 days.

Asylum seekers who have been cut off from government support are finding solace in an unexpected place: their own community garden.

Following his wrongful conviction for the murder of Canberra’s top police officer, David Eastman sought compensation. But bigger questions remain, about mental health and the law.

The federal government spends twice as much on income support for people affected by mental illness as it does on treatment. Rick Morton on living inside these figures – and the “arithmetic of existence”.

Inside the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, a place that is dysfunctional, inflexible and underfunded.