About Us
Suicide Prevention Australia is a non-profit, community organisation which is the peak body within the suicide prevention sector.
Suicide Prevention Australia is the national peak body for the suicide prevention sector in Australia with a role in providing policy advice to governments, community awareness and public education, increased involvement in research and a future role in leading Australia’s engagement internationally.
Suicide Prevention Australia is the only national umbrella body in suicide prevention throughout Australia. Suicide Prevention Australia is a broad-based organisation bringing together diverse interests across disciplines, practitioners, researchers, and the community affected by suicide and self harm.
Suicide Prevention Australia supports communities and organisations throughout Australia, and promotes collaboration and partnerships in suicide and self harm prevention, intervention and postvention.
Our Vision
“Our vision is for a world without suicide.”
Our Mission
“Our mission is to make suicide prevention everybody’s business.”
Our Values
- Integrity
- Compassion
- Ethics
- Inclusion
- Collaboration
- Innovation
- Respect
- Social Justice
Our Nine Principles for Suicide Prevention
Suicide Prevention Australia affirms the following understandings and guiding principles of suicide prevention:
- Suicide and suicidal behaviour arise from complex social, situational, biological and other individual causes, which isolate people and erode their hope. Understanding risk and protective factors for different groups and environments is vital to effective response.
- Suicide prevention is ‘everyone’s business’, whether it is directed towards individuals at high risk, communities and groups at potential risk, or the whole of the population.
- The first person voices of those with lived experience of suicide are crucial to increasing understanding of suicide and effective suicide prevention responses.
- Tackling social exclusion of individuals and communities, and investing in the human capital of all people, especially the most disadvantaged, is crucial to suicide prevention.
- Suicide prevention encompasses a range of interventions, including health promotion, early intervention, crisis support and ongoing intervention for people experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviour, and responding to and supporting families and communities impacted by suicide.
- Access should be provided to appropriate services for individuals at-risk, wherever and whoever they are – through crisis, ongoing intervention and recovery phases. Collaboration, coordination and continuity of care are essential to the effectiveness of services. Program, structural and policy barriers that inhibit help-seeking and the quality of support need to be identified and overcome.
- Suicide prevention strategies should be culturally appropriate.
- All suicide prevention projects, activities and strategies should be based on best practice and underpinned by quality research, data and evaluation.
- Challenging the misconceptions and stigma associated with suicide is essential to ensure that people will be able to ask for help and give help without fear or discrimination.
Suicide Prevention Australia supports a range of initiatives and projects;
LIFE Communications – LIFE Communications is a National Suicide Prevention Strategy project managed by Crisis Support Services on behalf of the De-partment of Health and Ageing. The project aims to improve access to suicide and self-harm prevention activities in Australia through the promotion of the LIFE resources and website; and improve communication between suicide prevention stake-holders in Australia.
Health Insite - HealthInsite is a healthdirect Australia health information ser-vice. It aims to improve the health of Australians by providing easy access to quality information about human health.
