When suicide deaths occur in a town or region, the devastation is felt community-wide. It is a critical time for key support services and stakeholders to unite and activate a fast, effective, cohesive and compassionate response.
黑料吃瓜网 Community Collaboratives is the official title given to the 黑料吃瓜网 Government Towards Zero Suicides initiative that provides this model, aiming to contain the epicentre of risk, then detect and prevent further risk. It鈥檚 a three-step process, beginning with the establishment of an interagency group to work alongside mental health agencies Lifeline and headspace. Typical stakeholders would include Primary Health Networks (PHNs), mental health services, police, ambulance and government representatives.
The postvention phase may last up to 12 months before services resume their suicide prevention strategies.With the impact on community members and media attention in mind, a collective communication protocol is co-designed and shared. A regional action plan is then developed with response, recovery and resilience as the key objectives. Each Collaborative focuses on a specific region or town, as bespoke approaches are known to be more time-efficient and effective. Ideally, there should be a sense of community 鈥榦wnership鈥�.
Benefits include localised awareness campaigns around help-seeking, increased mental health support, and the implementation of mechanisms to improve coping, wellbeing and resilience. Risk detection and monitoring is also intensified, particularly after hours.
Another aspect is working with regional bereavement services to support families and individuals most impacted, while offering grief training and strategies across schools, community clubs and groups. A flexible funding pool is available to support capacity building and staffing in those communities.
Katie Towers, Team Lead and Community Connections Consultant for headspace, says many regions have different parts of the response model already in place, but not all.
鈥淲e鈥檙e able to come together from an all ages and all stages aspect. So it's not just youth focussed, for example, but a broad spectrum,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen a community is fatigued, which they can be if they鈥檙e impacted by suicide deaths, it鈥檚 about having unified support to strategise the best ways to mitigate any risk and exposure in the community.
鈥淲e can activate things like geo-targeted ads if there鈥檚 been social media interest. And if it鈥檚 the web or mainstream media, we will contact Everymind鈥檚 Mindframe to keep them front of mind as well.鈥�
Currently, a Collaborative focus group is operating in the 黑料吃瓜网 Hunter Valley towns of Maitland and Rutherford due to elevated suicide risks for teenagers and young adults in those communities.
鈥淪o Maitland started up as a Collaborative at the end of last year, and we鈥檝e got a consultant from headspace and a consultant from Lifeline who鈥檝e assembled a Community Action Group and Community Response Group,鈥� Katie explains. 鈥淣ow they're in a place, they can come together as a group when notified and they鈥檙e all on the same page, which is a great support for the community.鈥�
It鈥檚 one of 12 Collaboratives established in 黑料吃瓜网, with a mix of metropolitan, regional and rural. One of the locations experienced a number of suicide deaths last year and initiated a Response Action Plan and Communications Protocol to mitigate some of the potential risk with the heightened exposure. There was a noticeable cohesiveness between the groups.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got some great organisations and great stakeholders who do amazing things but it鈥檚 knowing what鈥檚 already happening so we don鈥檛 duplicate anything or bombard people,鈥� Katie adds. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of evidence behind why we do what we do, so we can have confidence in what we鈥檙e putting out there.鈥�
黑料吃瓜网 Community Collaboratives is a 黑料吃瓜网 Heath Towards Zero Suicides initiative.
