Cultural Change
Lived experience of suicide is a powerful catalyst for reforming workplace culture, policy and processes required to contribute to suicide prevention and improve wellbeing and productivity.
The insights and stories of those with a lived experience of suicide can challenge deeply entrenched attitudes and stigma, help create an environment for robust discussion and foster authentic, accepting and supportive cultures or working environments.
There are a number of key change agents which, when strategically engaged and embedded within an organisation, provide a powerful platform for transformation.
Workforce capacity
The capacity of a workforce to address, prevent and respond to suicide can be increased in a number of ways.
- Cultural transformation – Lived experience stories play a significant role in changing attitudes and mobilising action within a workplace. Education and awareness build the crucial confidence of staff to take notice of changes in behaviour, possible contributing factors that can lead to increased distress in colleagues, recognise and respond to suicide.
- Policy and process reform – Staff with lived experience of suicide provide insight into how to enhance and improve working conditions for the greater wellbeing of all staff.
- Empowering leadership teams – with knowledge and implementation strategies.
- Increasing employee capacity – to respond to suicide through Lived Experience Informed Suicide Literacy training. Roses in the Ocean customise these workshops to meet the specific needs of workplaces.
Lived Experience Workforce Development
Within every workplace there will inevitably be people with a lived experience of suicide. Given a supportive environment which embraces and wants to learn from lived experience, these staff may choose to openly identify with their lived experience and assist management to create an organisation that is proactively preventing suicide and willing to respond to and support staff experiencing the impacts of suicide.
Roses in the Ocean works with workplaces to recruit and develop this unique and valuable internal resource, ensuring diverse representation across the organisation.
Lived experience advisory or reference groups
- Work alongside management, HR, OHS, People and Culture
- Provide input into suicide prevention plans and initiatives
- Can lead internal events – R U OK? Day, World Suicide Prevention Day, Mental Health Week
- Provide a conduit between additional working groups
- Feed into governance structure
- Develop a broader lived experience network to tap into greater diversity of experiences and perspectives
Lived experience speakers
- Share their stories and speak at events including R U OK? Day, World Suicide Prevention Day or Mental Health Week
- Videos to enhance existing training offerings
- Podcasts to reach staff in remote locations or isolated job roles
Lived experience peers
- Provide an additional layer of scaffolding for staff who are not comfortable talking to their manager or Employee Assistance Program staff, and would instead prefer to speak with someone whose experiences are similar to their own.
- Discreet ‘TouchPoint’ for conversation
- Assist in navigating internal processes of support
Communications guidance
Roses in the Ocean offers to review and advise on:
- Messaging regarding mental health and suicide
- Crisis messaging following a suicide attempt or death by suicide of an employee or family/friend/partner of an employee
- Events, specific times of year (eg. Christmas)
Crisis management plan – suicide
Roses in the Ocean can work with you to develop a Suicide Crisis Response Plan for a situation where suicide impacts your staff and workplace:
- Suicide at work
- Suicide of a staff member away from work
- Suicide attempt
- Suicide bereavement of staff member
- Supporting return to work
Maintenance
Ongoing bi-monthly or quarterly consulting and support