Emerging Solutions in Suicide Prevention

In this course, Joe Calleja (BA, BSW, GAICD, Life Member Australian College of Social Work), elaborates on “the gap” - a lack of non-clinical alternatives for people who are having suicidal crises - and explains why deep listening from peers (others with a lived experience of suicide) is crucial in order to decrease the suicide rate. He proposes changes, such as that medical/health professionals relinquish power (allowing those with lived experience to be more centrally engaged from the outset); that government fund peer-to-peer support in PHNs without the constraint that an approach be evidence based; that there be board roles with voting rights for individuals with lived experience; and that language, auspicing, and training also shift to accommodate lived experience. Calleja discusses the importance of both whole-of-government and whole-of-organisation suicide prevention approaches and outlines several programs which are person-centred, some of which are also peer-run. Several emerging innovations are noted, and the talk ends with a question and answer session.