The Emerging Suicide Prevention Workforce: Exploring Opportunities for Parallel Paid and Volunteer Roles

In this course, Bronwen Edwards, CEO, Roses in the Ocean, cites the grim statistics of how many suicides occur or are attempted, and how many people are affected by them. She traces the change in focus given impetus by the Compassion First document and the already-emerging suicide prevention peer workforce. These factors, along with the resilient tradition of volunteerism in Australia, form a strong rationale for greater funding for the development of such a workforce. Edwards outlines why peer-led volunteering is critical to suicide prevention and offers overseas examples of how it could work. You hear which factors are critical to success, including the notions of contextualised training for different volunteer areas, peer matching, and robust peer-led support for peer volunteers.