Why is Lifecycle committing its fundraising to

Youth Suicide Prevention?

Please read the following important message from:

Lifeline Canberra and Lifecycle –building resilient individuals and healthy communities supporting the reduction of suicide in the ACT

Lifeline Canberra is committed to providing high quality services that enhance the resiliency of individuals through developing capacity and building healthy and supportive communities. Our vision for suicide care is to provide services and support structures that enable the community to:

1. Work towards the prevention of suicide ideation in people.
2. respond to people with thoughts of suicide; and
3. Provide high level support to those impacted by suicide.

Suicide has a devastating affect on individuals, their family and the community. More than 1 in 20 Australians have thoughts of suicide in a year and last year (2007) more than 30 Canberrans died by suicide. For every death the impact is intense and wide reaching. Often the grief caused by suicide is long lasting and has generational impacts.

A suicide safe community provides services and supports across a spectrum that encompasses three areas: prevention, intervention and postvention. At present Lifeline Canberra is providing a range of services across this spectrum, we hope to provide more in the future.

At Lifeline Canberra we currently:

·         answer 2,000 calls per year about suicide from people across the whole suicide spectrum

·         provide specific suicide intervention training to 250 people per year

·         provide face to face counselling for on average 53 people who are suicidal as a result of gambling or financial difficulties

·        Provide postvention training to members of the community supporting people bereaved through suicide.

Whilst these programs are having an impact, more could be done and the funds donated through LifeCycle can help us reach our goal of providing prevention, intervention and postvention support in the community.

Through the funds raised by Lifecycle participants, Lifecycle can fund the following very important community programs:

1. FR-ESH: First Responders – Emerging Suicide Helpers

The FR-ESH program has been designed to provide young people with the skills, information and confidence required to identify and respond to thoughts of suicide in their peers. The incidence of suicide in young people is still high and this coupled with young people’s reluctance to seek professional help puts this age group at an increased risk of completing suicide. FR-ESH aims to reduce this incidence by equipping young people with the skills needed to help peers with thoughts of suicide before it is too late.

2. Mental Health Ambassadors

The Mental Health Ambassadors program aims to promote positive mental health in young people through the development of healthy coping skills and the provision of peer support. The program develops the knowledge and skills needed in young people to promote mental health protective factors and provide support to peers exhibiting signs of poor mental health. This program aims to counteract myths and replace them with youth friendly messages about mental health. The aim is to prevent crisis from occurring and build resilience in young people whilst promoting supportive cultures in schools. Through this we aim to reduce the incidence of suicidal thoughts in young people.

3. Telephone Counselling Crisis Line and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training

The 24-hour crisis telephone counselling service is the core of services to the community. Around 10% of calls to the crisis line are from people who are having thoughts of suicide or who are supporting someone with thoughts of suicide, or people who have lost someone to suicide. The crisis line provides essential support to people with thoughts of suicide and aims to re-connect them with their reasons for living in an attempt to keep them safe. Being available at all times is vital to ensuring that people who are close to suicide are able to reach out and stay alive.

Each year we train around 120 people in suicide intervention skills as part of their Telephone Counsellor Training. If each of these people are connected to at least 20 people, then we have helped an additional 2,000 people have access to effective suicide support. It costs Lifeline Canberra $250 for each person trained in suicide intervention, a cost that we need to rely on volunteers to meet.

4. The Suicide Buddies Program

The suicide buddies program aims to reduce the incidence of repeated suicidal behaviors in people who have attempted suicide. The suicide buddies program connects someone who has made a suicide attempt with a volunteer who is able to provide them with on-going support and a sense of connection with the broader community. Through the program, volunteer counsellors have daily and then weekly contact with a person who has attempted suicide. This contact helps to ensure that the person remains safe and helps work through the issues that lead to the thoughts of suicide in the first place. This program can eventually be extended to those who have attempted suicide and are released from hospital with little or no support.

5. RESPOND

The death of someone through suicide is devastating to those left behind. The grief experienced is heightened by a sense of despair, questioning, shame, guild and blame. The grief experienced is overwhelming for the people involved and for the community as a whole. People bereaved by suicide need support to come through the trauma and re-adjust to life without their loved one. To meet the needs of people bereaved by suicide, Lifeline Canberra has developed a cutting edge training program, RESPOND. RESPOND has been developed to provide workers and members of the community with the skills and confidence needed to understand and respond effectively to those affected by suicide or sudden death. RESPOND is a unique program that has the potential to reduce the impact and severity of loss experienced through suicide.