Serious about suicide prevention

2 April 2019

The ANU Centre for Mental Health Research is committed to reducing Australia's increasing suicide rate. Our 2019 learning program includes a series of events focused on suicide prevention.

We're bringing together practitioners, researchers, policy makers and community members for updates on local and international research and activity, and to consider ways to address this problem.

Workshop 1: CMHR Suicide prevention in Australia - challenges and strategies

Our first event, Suicide prevention in Australia: challenges and strategies, convened by Associate Professor Annette Erlangsen, on Tuesday 5 February, saw 71 people come together to:

  • Recognise the importance of international perspectives to improve understanding of issues our decision makers need to address;
  • Be updated on current Australian suicide trends and the practial applications, activities and research being undertaken in suicide prevention; and
  • Discuss future challenges and opportunites.

We heard from Professor Eric Caine; a prominent researcher from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, USA, who was in town to share his learnings from an international study.

Roundtable 1: CMHR Suicide prevention in the Australian Defence Force

We followed our first workshop with an invitation-only roundtable on Wednesday 6 February, for policy makers to discuss the more specific topic: Suicide Prevention in the Australian Defence Force, again drawing on Professor Eric Caine's experiences.

Attendees included representatives from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, Department of Defence, Open Arms, Western Australian Public Health Association, University of Melbourne, BUPA Health Foundation, and ANU Centre for Mental Health Research.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AL, AC (Mil) AFC (Retired) spoke on the importance of suicide prevention in the Defence Forces; and Melinda Petrie, from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Veterans' Healath and Welfare Unit spoke about using linkage data. We also had updates from other attendees about ongoing efforts with the Australian Defence Force.

Our next round of suicide prevention events will be held in the first week of May. Details coming soon.