Page 727 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020

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This commitment is demonstrated in the programs and services that the ACT Government supports for suicide prevention including:

the establishment and workplan of the Office of Mental Health and Wellbeing including the review of Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing in the ACT;

the establishment of the three-year high-fidelity research trial of the Black Dog Institute’s (BDI) LifeSpan Integrated Suicide Prevention Framework in the ACT;

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are a priority cohort for ACT Lifespan. The ACT Health Directorate has funded an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LifeSpan Project Officer to consult and coordinate the involvement of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Suicide Prevention initiatives and the development of programs;

the establishment of a Suicide Prevention Officers in Canberra Health Services and the Education Directorate;

the ACT Government has provided matched funding with the Federal Government for the ACT Way Back Suicide Aftercare Service until 2022;

increased access to suicidal crisis intervention and treatment with Adult Community Mental Health Model of Care redesign and implementation of Acute Response Intensive Home Treatment and Assertive Community Outreach teams;

improved services for the highest at-risk populations, for example increased Detention Exit Community Outreach; Mental Health, Justice Health, Alcohol and Drug Service (MHJHADS) working towards LGBTIQ+ improved access and services;

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander priority access to a mental health nurse and psychiatric registrar at Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service;

in 2018-19, the ACT Government were successfully granted $6 million over four years by the Federal Government for a Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Project. This project has two distinct pathways: an Online Youth Navigation Portal providing individualised online and phone services for young people; and the Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) program;

roll out of Question Persuade Refer (QPR) Gatekeeper Training across the ACT through Lifespan;

ongoing focus on destigmatising community public awareness through support of Mental Health Month, R U OK? Day and World Suicide Prevention Day;

embedding research and evidence-informed practice, for example the partnership with the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research, Beyond Blue and the Black Dog Institute with the implementation of ACT Lifespan;

Are They Triple OK?’ program provide extra resources to frontline personnel and their families to help them get the support they need if they’re struggling with mental health issues;

the ACT Government has also invested in other suicide prevention services run through non-government organisations including OzHelp, MIEACT, Headspace Canberra, Lifeline, Menslink and Let’s Talk.

(4) The data below has been sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2018 Causes of Death and Intentional self-harm tables:


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