Jeremy Rockliff,Premier
Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing
The Tasmanian Government is working to reduce suicide rates in Tasmania and is seeking the views of the Tasmanian community to inform the development of the third Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Strategy, which is expected to be released by the end of the year.
Consultation with Tasmanians has commenced with the release of an online community survey, which is open until Monday 11 July 2022.
The community survey is the first in a series of scheduled consultation activities to inform the suicide prevention direction for Tasmania for the next five years, from 2023–2027.
The Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Strategy sets out the priority areas for action to achieve the Tasmanian Government’s goal of reducing suicide and increasing support for people impacted by suicide.
Our work to date has included:
- Supporting the Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Community Network to build the resilience and connections of Tasmanian communities;
- Supporting communities to undertake and deliver suicide prevention community action plans state-wide and have extended this work to include engagement with local councils through our COVID-19 funding support;
- Establishing the Tasmanian Suicide Register in 2017, which last year informed the second Report to the Tasmanian Government on Suicide in Tasmania 2012–2018 to ensure we have the best available detailed data;
- Supporting communities to understand and safely talk about suicide and the impact of suicide through the development and release of the Tasmanian Communications Charter with the Mental Health Council of Tasmania;
- Continuing our rollout of the Connecting with People suicide mitigation approach, in which over 3,000 training modules have been provided to over 1,000 people since 2019; and
- Establishing the new Way Back Support Service to deliver aftercare services to people following discharge or presentation to Emergency Departments following a suicide attempt or suicidal crisis.
The third Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Strategy will align with the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement released this year, as well as the reform directions of Rethink 2020, Tasmania’s overarching mental health plan.
Importantly, it will be guided by the lived experience and professional expertise of Tasmanians to build on what we know and shape the actions we take in the future to ensure our people and our communities are safe, supported, and thriving.
We acknowledge that preventing suicide is challenging, as the reasons people take their own life are complex and are not necessarily connected to mental illness.
We are deeply committed to working with all Tasmanians to ensure that everyone who experiences suicidal distress can access compassionate care and support when and where they need it.
Suicide prevention is everyone’s responsibility, and it is up to each of us to do what we can to support each other, to reach out to others in times of disruption and distress, and to help build hope for the future.
