Page 672 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020
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a. LifeSpan combines nine strategies that have strong evidence for suicide prevention into one community-led approach. LifeSpan is about working together, implementing proven approaches to suicide prevention, and helping people in the local community to be better informed and connected. The Lifespan Integrated Suicide Prevention framework provides the model for integration of the nine strategies under the Lifespan model, drawing together the strategies into Community, Health, Schools, and data driven decision making.
b. The Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing leads and coordinates ACT Lifespan in partnership with BDI and CHN, with an Implementation Manager and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Project Officer sitting with the office under the stewardship of the Coordinator General for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
(3) There is an ACT Lifespan Steering Committee and Working Groups to progress the nine Lifespan strategies. The Steering Committee is chaired by the Coordinator General for Mental Health and Wellbeing. The Working Groups of ACT Lifespan focus on suicide prevention strategies for Schools, health settings, community, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and the provision of accurate and timely data on suicide deaths and attempts in the ACT. The Chairs of the Working Groups are members of the ACT Lifespan Steering Committee.
(4) Three Suicide Prevention Collaborative (SPC) Meetings have been held in November 2018, March 2019, and June 2019. The purpose of the SPCs is to provide an opportunity for members of the community to network, to share information and discuss matters relating to suicide prevention in the ACT. The ACT Lifespan SPCs are open to the Canberra community and those with an interest in suicide prevention are encouraged to attend. The themes of the first three SPCs have been an introduction to ACT Lifespan, Lived Experience of Suicide and Suicide Data Provision. These meetings were held at The Canberra Hospital, the Griffin Centre, and ANU respectively.
Comprehensive SPC attendee profiles and attendance records for the SPCs are not documented. Each of the three SPC meetings have been well attended with approximately 120 individuals representing over 20 organisations. Agencies represented included the Australian Federal Police, the Mental Health Consumer Network, Ambulance Service, the Mental Health Community Coalition, MHJHADS, ACT Education, Carers ACT, Catholic Education, MIEACT, BDI, headspace, Calvary Hospital, Woden Community Service, University of Canberra, Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Service, Gugan Gulwan, Catholic Education Office, Association of Independent Schools, Healthier Work and the CHN.
(5) The BDI’s Lifespan is an evidence based suicide prevention framework. As the ACT is a high fidelity research site it is essential that the scientific integrity of the framework is maintained during its implementation. The three SPCs have confirmed several key implementation priorities and identified some exciting opportunities for collaboration:
a. It is vital to include the voice of people with lived experience of suicide in the strategic approaches and programs under ACT Lifespan so that all governance groups and approaches under ACT Lifespan are benefiting from the experience of individuals and organisations with personal experience of suicide.
b. There is a strong need for a more integrated approach to suicide prevention in the ACT bringing together all the key stakeholders to improve communication and
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