Suicide Prevention Australia

Wendy French has worked in a variety of suicide prevention programs in Tasmania and throughout Australia. She was responsible for implementing a local site of a national suicide bereavement service in North West Tasmania, which she then managed for five years. 2009-2013). In addition to her “day job” providing Suicide Prevention and Mental Health training to workplaces throughout Tasmania, Wendy has created Talking About Suicide to assist people to have conversations with people at risk of or bereaved by suicide, and is an ambassador for local charity Stigma No More. Her attitude of “Tasmanians helping each other out” is evident in her use of her “spare time”, supporting individuals, families and communities after hours, on weekends, and in the middle of the night, travelling wherever she was needed and ensuring that anyone who needed information and support could get it, when they needed it. Following a suicide in Tasmania which had a terrible impact on a small rural community, Wendy was contacted by members

Danielle Driscoll has been the pivotal driver behind TAFESA's delivery of the LivingWorks ASIST, Suicide First Aid training. Since being trained as a trainer of Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training in May 2015, Danielle has delivered 15 Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training sessions. This equates to over 300 people with their Suicide First Aid Certificate, 200 of those in 2016 alone. The ripple effect of the people trained shows that on average 35 lives per trained person will be prevented from being affected by suicide. There is upwards of 9,000 people living suicide safer lives due to Danielle's skills. She is strongly advocating within TAFE SA to provide ASIST training to all staff, improving their ability to support their students and communities. She believes education is the ideal space to nurture intervention and prevention skills for young people and their families and their workers. Danielle also works with people outside of her paid role within TAFESA to ensure the message of suicid

Professor Jane Pirkis is Director of the Centre for Mental Health at the University of Melbourne. Professor Pirkis talks about the importance of building the evidence base; improving evaluation processes and the Man Up series, a documentary and digital media campaign dealing with male suicide. Professor Pirkis presented on: Effectiveness of suicide prevention and self-harm intervention programs; and Man-Up at #NSPC17. #ManyVoicesOneGoal #suicideprevention

Associate Professor Phil Batterham is a Fellow in Mental Health Research at the National Institute for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University. Associate Professor Batterham presented at #NSPC17 on the topics of online self-help for suicide prevention; and disclosure of suicidal ideation - patterns, predictors and outcomes. If you or anyone you know is experiencing a personal crisis, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. #suicideprevention #ManyVoicesOneGoal

In 2004 Debbie Knight lost a close friend to suicide. Her loss was just one case in a community which was becoming all too familiar with an issue being labelled as epidemic in the Mackay Region. As often happens, she and a group of friends got together with a view to raising awareness around suicide prevention. They did some fundraising and created the beginnings of a powerful and highly regarded organisation, Grapevine Group Mackay. Debbie has been with this group from the very beginning and in the past 13 years Grapevine has become a foundation stone which underpins the entire mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention movement in the Mackay region. The group's focus - and that which Debbie has campaigned strongly and consistently for - is education. In partnership with local community suicide awareness and fundraising body Run For Mi Life, as well as LifeLine and the nationally renowned Living Works, Grapevine brought to Mackay the highly regarded safeTALK and ASIST programs in 2014. In conjunction w

Dr Samantha Batchelor, Senior Researcher at Kids Helpline, yourtown, shares her insights into help-seeking in young people, challenges around stigma and the need for early intervention. Kids Helpline is a National crisis call counselling service, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for children and young people aged 5 to 25. Please call 1800 55 1800 for support or visit https://kidshelpline.com.au/kids/get-help/phone-counselling/ for web or email chat.

#NSPC17 Chris Pycroft, Accessibility Engagement Manager, LGBTI and Mental Health Consultant talks about the state of the LGBTI Nation: Mental Health and Wellbeing and some of the challenges experienced in his field of work. #suicideprevention #ManyVoicesOneGoal

Live from #NSPC17 Professor Arensman shares her knowledge and views on some of the biggest challenges she sees in suicide prevention, and comments on interventions and cultural differences #suicideprevention #ManyVoicesOneGoal

Live from the 2017 National Suicide Prevention Conference (NSPC17). Dr Trisha Wallis, Social worker and Psychologist from California Southern University talks to SPA about the Exploration of suicide risk factors among Transgender people. #NSPC17 #suicideprevention #ManyVoicesOneGoal

Dr Kim Van Orden is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, USA. She speaks with SPA about Connecting and Contributing - Behavioural strategies to improve relationships and reduce suicide risk in later life #NSPC17 #suicideprevention #ManyVoicesOneGoal

Live from the 2017 National Suicide Prevention Conference (NSPC17). Matthew Welch, Clnical Nurse Consultant for Suicide Prevention at the Gold Coast Mental Health and Specialist Service, talks about his work in implementing a Zero Suicide Framework in a large Australian Metropolitan Mental Health Service. #NSPC17 #suicideprevention Visit www.suicidepreventionaust.org/conferences for the full program

Our Lived Experience Network Manager, Tracy, attended the 2017 NAIDOC Celebrations at the Central Coast in Gosford NSW. Listen to her interview with Roy Ah-See - SYDNEY/NEWCASTLE REGION, Chairperson, NSW Aboriginal Land Council (http://www.alc.org.au/about-nswalc/our-council.aspx) I’m here today at the NAIDOC celebrations at Gosford and I’m just wondering if you can share with us who you are, who you represent and why this event is so important. Absolutely. My name is Roy Ah-See; I’m a Wiradjuri man born and bred on Wiradjuri country. I live on the Central Coast and I’m the Chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, elected council for the Sydney Newcastle region. I guess in answer to your question why these events are important – NAIDOC week - it symbolises who we are, our identity, gives us an opportunity to showcase and engage with non-Aboriginal people and also bring together our Aboriginal community. Because it is so important and the theme for this NAIDOC here is Languages – and they do matter.

Media Release Transcript Australia, 20 June 2017: At a meeting of the Parliamentary Friends of Suicide Prevention today, Minister for Health The Hon. Greg Hunt MP announced Suicide Prevention Australia as lead agency for a new national Suicide Prevention Research Fund. The $12m Fund was promised in the Federal Election campaign following calls from Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA) and its members for increased, dedicated investment in suicide prevention research. In commenting on the announcement, Suicide Prevention Australia CEO, Sue Murray, said that “We are proud to be named the independent leadership body tasked with facilitating a research environment that improves the way we map gaps in current knowledge and strengthen Australia’s research capability.” “Prioritising research and establishing pathways to move research findings into policy and practice, in a timely manner, is integral to achieving a downward trajectory in suicides. This concept, in other health areas such as breast cancer, card

From Monday, 20 April to Thursday, 23 April 2017, Tracy McCown (Manager, SPA Lived Experience Network) and Sue Murray (SPA CEO) attended numerous forums and discussions on an innovative, peer-led Alternative To Suicide Support Group program from the Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Center (USA). Podcast length: 6m 30 sec. It is so important to talk openly and safely about suicide but, if listening to this triggers difficult emotions in you, please talk about how you’re feeling with a trusted family member, friend or people at one of our partner organisations. Call Lifeline on 131114, MensLine 1300 78 99 78, Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 or Kids Helpline 1800 551800 FREE. For a comprehensive list of Australian support and services available visit https://communitiesmatter.suicidepreventionaust.org/content/useful-contacts Outside of Australia? Find local support http://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/ TRANSCRIPT: Alternatives to Suicide – what does this really mean? And in particular,

On 27/28 February 2017 Suicide Prevention Australia co hosted the 3rd International Zero Suicide Summit as part of the 2017 International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) Leadership Exchange in Sydney. The Summit has become a regular part of the IIMHL program. Leading experts in healthcare and suicide prevention sought to progress the ‘Zero Suicide’ initiative, targeting suicide prevention and behavioural health care systems where a cooperative system wide engagement seeks to achieve a target of zero suicides in the health care system (inspired by the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit). Suicide Prevention Australia is specifically looking at what Zero Suicide in HealthCare implementation looks like if rolled out on a wider scale in Australia. Seventy delegates representing 15 countries attended the match. Guest speakers include Dr Michael Hogan, David Covington, Kevin Hines, Jan Mokkenstorm, David Jobes and Virna Little. The summit agenda focused on introducing the zero suicide mission and

On 27/28 February 2017 Suicide Prevention Australia co hosted the 3rd International Zero Suicide Summit as part of the 2017 International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) Leadership Exchange in Sydney. The Summit has become a regular part of the IIMHL program. Leading experts in healthcare and suicide prevention sought to progress the ‘Zero Suicide’ initiative, targeting suicide prevention and behavioural health care systems where a cooperative system wide engagement seeks to achieve a target of zero suicides in the health care system (inspired by the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit). Suicide Prevention Australia is specifically looking at what Zero Suicide in HealthCare implementation looks like if rolled out on a wider scale in Australia. Seventy delegates representing 15 countries attended the match. Guest speakers include Dr Michael Hogan, David Covington, Kevin Hines, Jan Mokkenstorm, David Jobes and Virna Little. The summit agenda focused on introducing the zero suicide mission and

On 27/28 February 2017 Suicide Prevention Australia co hosted the 3rd International Zero Suicide Summit as part of the 2017 International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) Leadership Exchange in Sydney. The Summit has become a regular part of the IIMHL program. Leading experts in healthcare and suicide prevention sought to progress the ‘Zero Suicide’ initiative, targeting suicide prevention and behavioural health care systems where a cooperative system wide engagement seeks to achieve a target of zero suicides in the health care system (inspired by the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit). Suicide Prevention Australia is specifically looking at what Zero Suicide in HealthCare implementation looks like if rolled out on a wider scale in Australia. Seventy delegates representing 15 countries attended the match. Guest speakers include Dr Michael Hogan, David Covington, Kevin Hines, Jan Mokkenstorm, David Jobes and Virna Little. The summit agenda focused on introducing the zero suicide mission a

A few minutes with SPA Members Brenton Tainsh from LivingWorks Australia, Jorgen Gallestrup from Mates In Construction Australia and Fiona Kalaf from Youth Focus. More on SPA Membership here https://www.suicidepreventionaust.org/become-member

SPA Lived Experience Network Manager, Tracy, attended SPA Member Relationships Australia event at Bidwell Community Garden for the launch of 2017 Neighbour Day . www.neighbourday.org Tracy spoke with Alison Brook, the National Executive Officer of Relationship Australia. The Neighbour Day concept was originally developed and delivered by one man (Andrew Heslop) and his laptop. Andrew started Neighbour Day after a woman in a suburb of Melbourne had died in her home and wasn't found for two years. Neighbour Day encourages everyone to connect with the people next door, over the fence, or down the road. It is the perfect opportunity to say thanks for being a great neighbour and for being there when I needed you most! The theme of Neighbour Day this year is: The Importance of Social Connection for the Elderly. The theme aims to encourage all Australians to reach out to older people in their neighbourhoods, particularly those who live alone, or are otherwise vulnerable or frail. The community starts at your

This story is told by Graeme, member of our Lived Experience Network (LEN) and one of our trained speakers following his attendance at a Suicide Prevention Lived Experience Speakers Bureau workshop. If listening to this brings up tough emotions for you, please reach out to trusted family members, friends or one of our partners who are there to support you. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, Mensline on 1300 78 99 78 or visit our useful contacts page to see a more comprehensive list of services available to you https://communitiesmatter.suicidepreventionaust.org/content/useful-contacts MY STORY • finds me losing my career and my family due mainly to depression • it also finds me alone for many years with no sense of worth or purpose - little or no value for life • but I have come out the other end. Support groups are an important to this process. My name is Graeme Holdsworth and I’m 71 years old and today I want to share with you the different things that happened in my life – good