Red Flag Canberra attended a conference on 5 February 2019 called Suicide Prevention in Australia: Challenges and Strategies at the Australian National University. The aim of the conference was to explore national and state suicide prevention strategies and statistics.
The content was heavily focused on statistics and trends. However, it didn’t explore the question of why despite increased levels of funding suicide rates have increased. It seems as if our current approach to suicide prevention needs to be recalibrated.
Fiona Rippin from the Department of Health and Human Services (Victoria), spoke of the practical applications of suicide prevention in that state. Alone amongst the models the Victorian model had a specific lived experience inclusion aspect. Assertive outreach post a suicide attempt was also a feature of the Victorian approach.
Red Flag Canberra will be interested to see whether the Victorian government’s approach leads to a reduction in suicide rates in that state, which means this focus on lived experience should be adopted by other jurisdictions.