The National Suicide Prevention Office (NSPO) would like to hear from you. It is important to understand if the advice provided is what you hope to see in government action on suicide prevention. Will the actions be effective in your community? And which actions you see as the priority?
As a person with lived experience of suicide there are three ways in which you can provide feedback:
- Attend one of the lived experience consultations we are hosting
- Provide feedback through the National Suicide Prevention Office website
- The National Suicide Prevention Office also welcomes feedback provided directly via email to: [email protected]
*Expressions of Interest for our internal lived experience consultations have now closed
Consultations for people with lived experience of suicide
Roses in the Ocean will be hosting consultations to collectively gather feedback on the Advice to send to the National Suicide Prevention Office. If you have lived experience of suicide, we would love for you to attend. You can find the dates, times and link to the Expression Of Interest form for these consultations below.
Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Consultation draft | Lived experience consultations
- Tuesday 8 October, 2:00pm – 4:30pm (AEST)
- Wednesday 9 October, 9:00am – 11:30am (AEST)
- Friday 11 October, 9:00am – 11:30am (AEST)
*Roses in the ocean values your time and contribution and you will be remunerated for your participation.
If you have any questions about the above consultations, please email us at [email protected].
How to get involved in the NSPO public consultation:
- The NSPO public consultation will be open for 6 weeks from 10 September – 27th October.
- To review the draft Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and have your say, please click below:
- It is important that we hear from a broad range of people with diverse views to strengthen the Advice on the Strategy and provide governments with the strongest and most effective advice possible.
Why do we need this Strategy?
It is time to change our approach to suicide prevention.
- Every day in Australia approximately 9 people die by suicide and more than 150 people attempt to take their own life.
- This is more than 3,000 deaths and 55,000 attempts each year. In addition, thousands more will experience suicidal distress or thoughts of suicide.
- The impacts of the loss of life, suicide attempts and suicidal distress on individuals, families and communities is devastating.
- Suicidal distress is a human response to overwhelming suffering that deserves to be met with compassion.
- The National Suicide Prevention Office’s draft Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy proposes a fundamental change to the way we think and act on suicide prevention.
Suicide prevention must begin before people reach the point of crisis.
- People with lived experience of suicide, the data and scientific research all tell us that suicidal thoughts and behaviours are not just about mental ill-health – they are also about all the circumstances that can create feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and entrapment.
- Financial stress, housing instability, domestic and family violence, childhood adversity, discrimination, and alcohol and drug harm can all play a role in contributing to suicidal distress.
Many of these circumstances are preventable.
What does the National Suicide Prevention Office’s draft Advice on National Suicide Prevention Strategy say?
To be truly effective we need a comprehensive suicide prevention system that:
- Acts to prevent people from reaching the point of suicidal distress in the first place. This can be achieved by taking proactive steps to address areas of disadvantage and adversity that contribute to distress before they escalate into suicidal thoughts or attempts.
- Strengthens the support system to ensure that when a person does experience suicidal distress, support is accessible, compassionate, and effective. The support system must be able to respond to individual needs and circumstances, be better equipped to address the full range of factors underlying a person’s distress and aim to restore wellbeing.
- Is sustained by collective effort from governments, sectors beyond health, service providers, and communities. The system needs to be supported by greater accountability, more research and better data, and a stronger suicide prevention workforce. This will require the voices and expertise of lived and living experience to be embedded in the heart of policy design and implementation.
Why is it important?
The draft Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy provides clear guidance for governments, service providers and communities on a comprehensive, compassionate and effective national approach to suicide prevention.
- It offers a point of reflection for everyone with a role to play in preventing suicide on what is currently being done and what needs to be done to prevent suicidal distress, suicide attempts and suicide deaths.
- It is a call for change that will save lives. There is no task that is more essential.