A police spokeswoman confirmed with the Mercury police officers who attended the scene were offered counselling and would receive ongoing support.

The spokeswoman added the boy's death was not treated as suspicious.

Meantime the Catholic Education Office also said they were providing "comprehensive support to the school community, including counselling for staff and students".

"Local police and health services have provided significant assistance, and there is ongoing liaison with the Department of Education," they said in a statement.

"In the interests of the student's family and the broader school community, we won't be making any further comments at this time."

Anthropologist and founder of not-for-profit Habitus, Sumant 'Monty' Badami, has been working with young people in schools and community groups surrounding mental and suicide for many years - especially around the Illawarra and South Coast.

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Sadly, he said, suicide was not isolated to a particular area or an age group, but there was no quick fix or solution.

"Hindsight is a luxury when it comes to suicide events and the community crisis ... the challenge is not to fix it, you can't fix it," Dr Badami said.

"People will riddle themselves with guilt, most people have done the best that they could and they can't take responsibility for the choice of an individual.

"In going forward we need to think about how can we support each other to recover in a responsible way that doesn't blame and doesn't divide, but brings us closer together."

He said people trying to make sense of such a tragedy would often try to pinpoint a specific cause or something to blame, but believed the community's job was not to return to business as usual.

"During a disruption to the community like this, we tend to want to find simple solutions, we tend to want to say 'what can we fix to make it go back to normal' - which is very normal in a crisis," Dr Badami said.

"But extensive research shows ... the more we try to apply those simple solutions to complex problems the more problems we can create."

One of the greatest things adults can do is listen to their children and just be there for them.

For parents worried for their own kids in light of this recent tragedy, he suggested not to put pressure on them with their own fears but to try and foster great connections with them.

"They don't need more mental health training," Dr Badami said.

"They don't need dudes in a room with a PowerPoint presentation telling them what to do, they need greater connection."

The programs he runs with young people, he said, are not about finding solutions but creating conditions that people safe.

"We shouldn't protect them from life but prepare them for life," Dr Badami said.

"We need to create conditions where we can let go ... the tighter we squeeze the more they slip through our fingers."

Lifeline: 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 beyondblue.org.au

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