Evidence Brief Enabler 4: Workforce and community capability

The aim of this enabler is to lay the groundwork for the National Suicide Prevention Workforce Strategy by outlining priority actions that are needed now to build the capability of workforces in suicide prevention. The Workforce Strategy will adopt a broad definition of the suicide prevention workforce that reflects the importance of a whole-of-community approach to suicide prevention and is inclusive of people who are likely to interact with, or make decisions that affect, someone who might be vulnerable to suicide.</p

Evidence Brief Focus Area 4: Providing accessible, comprehensive and compassionate care

Providing accessible, comprehensive, and compassionate care is about offering timely, tailored interventions to individuals who are experiencing suicidal ideation or engaging in self-harm. Health and mental health care services are necessary for responding to acute distress, but the service system requires a more compassionate, coordinated and integrated approach to linking consumers and their carers with ongoing clinical and non-clinical support services that address underlying drivers of distress (e.g., economic, legal, interpersonal, mental/physical health).</p

Evidence Brief Focus Area 3: Empowering earlier intervention

Empowering earlier intervention involves identifying individuals who are at heightened vulnerability for suicidal distress, providing brief support and facilitating access to specialist care, with the overarching aim of reducing the likelihood of escalation. This requires a coordinated approach from government and non-government services as well as broader community touchpoints associated with known periods of heightened vulnerability to suicide, such as situational stressors or navigating life transitions</p

Evidence Brief Enabler 2: Embedding lived experience decision-making and leadership

Embedding lived experience of suicide into leadership structures and all levels of decision making to inform suicide prevention across governments and portfolios is one of the foundational areas of system reform in implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and broader suicide prevention efforts in Australia. People with lived experience of suicide provide invaluable personal insights about effective and appropriate suicide prevention responses that meet their needs. As such, it is critical that people with lived experience are increasingly involved in planning, implementation, and evaluation of suicide prevention activities and government agencies and service providers are equipped to partner effectively with people with lived experience.</p

Evidence Brief Focus Area 1: Enhancing wellbeing as a protective factor for suicide

Enhancing wellbeing on an individual and population-level is identified as an important protective factor for suicide. This can be achieved by strengthening social, economic, and environmental factors that foster healthy, safe, secure, and fulfilling lives. Importantly, improving wellbeing goes beyond mitigating risk factors and focuses on universal interventions that equip individuals with the knowledge and skills to thrive.</p

Evidence Brief Enabler 3: Data, Research, and Evaluation

Enabler 3 is about improving data, research, and evaluation to support suicide prevention in Australia. This evidence brief examines what are the current key issues, what is currently happening in Australia, what are the critical gaps, and where should efforts be focused with regard to data, research, and evaluation. The National Suicide Prevention Advisor’s Final Advice emphasises the importance of better collection and timely reporting of data related to suicidality, as well as robust and reliable data about the social determinants that may impact on suicide behaviour, for suicide prevention policy and practice. Therefore, the scope of data included in this brief includes direct measures of suicidality (e.g., data about suicide, suicide attempts etc.) as well data related to the social determinants of suicide.</p

Evidence Brief Focus Area 2: Mitigating the impacts of known drivers of distress

This focus area addresses “upstream” prevention as part of a public health approach recognising that there are significant gains to be made from upstream strategies that prevent people getting to the point of crisis in the first place. Drivers of distress are circumstances or events that cause distress that in some cases becomes suicidal.</p

Evidence Brief Enabler 1: Governance and collaboration across governments and portfolios

This enabler is focused on actions and mechanisms that will facilitate a sustainable ‘whole of-government’ approach to suicide prevention, where whole of government is defined as all levels of government and all portfolios working together on integrated policies and programs to prevent suicide and self-harm.</p

Additional file 2: Table S6. of Help-seeking for mental health problems by employees in the Australian Mining Industry

Workplace factors and attitudes associated with professional and non-professional help seeking (n = 1,319). (DOC 97 kb

Additional file 1: of Help-seeking for mental health problems by employees in the Australian Mining Industry

Survey. (DOC 377 kb