Page 4093 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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situation specific. While suicidal thoughts may return, they are not permanent. Someone who has experienced suicidal thoughts or attempts can go on to live a long life.
The ongoing existence of these three myths is a constant reminder of the importance of our efforts to raise the awareness of suicide prevention and develop the resilience of our community. This is something that the ACT government and I, as the Minister for Mental Health, are deeply committed to. This commitment is demonstrated in the programs and services that the ACT government supports for suicide prevention in the ACT. I believe that this is, first and foremost, recognised through the establishment of the LifeSpan integrated suicide prevention framework in 2018, in partnership with the Black Dog Institute.
LifeSpan is an evidence-based approach to integrated suicide prevention that coordinates nine different strategies across community-led approaches that include health, education, frontline services, business and the community. The ACT government is the only state or territory government that is centrally coordinating a LifeSpan trial site.
LifeSpan has hit the ground running and has already made great progress in establishing health promotion and suicide prevention programs in the ACT. A recent example is the “question, persuade, refer” online gatekeeper training program, which has been widely promoted by the ACT Health Directorate and the Capital Health Network. QPR, as it is known, is a suicide prevention intervention that teaches lay and professional gatekeepers to recognise and respond positively to someone exhibiting suicide warning signs and behaviours. I am pleased to say that over 450 Canberrans have taken up this training opportunity to date.
LifeSpan is also targeting groups who are at higher risk of suicidality, such as young people. For example, the ACT government has committed to implementing the Black Dog Institute’s “youth aware of mental health” program, the YAM program, as part of ACT LifeSpan. The ACT Health Directorate will implement YAM with year 9 students in all ACT high schools, in partnership with ACT Education, as it is a program that directly targets young people in the age group identified as being at an increased risk of intentional self-harm. Funding for this initiative has been made available through the commonwealth government’s community health and hospitals partnership program.
LifeSpan is also working closely with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the ACT to develop culturally appropriate suicide prevention and intervention services. This has included employing an ACT LifeSpan Aboriginal project officer to coordinate this work and establishing an ACT LifeSpan Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander working group. This working group has included consultation with key local stakeholders, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, the United Ngunnawal Elders Council, Winnunga Nimmityjah, Gugan Gulwan Aboriginal Youth Corporation and a range of inter-directorate ACT government stakeholders.
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