AIHW National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System December 2021 data releases

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System has a planned schedule of major updates that include new data every quarter, and regular updates of existing data when they become available.

The December 2021 update includes the most recent data available on ambulance attendances for suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and self-harm behaviours, and a commissioned study on suicide patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data shared through the National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System deepens our understanding of suicidal crisis. It is important to remember that each data point represents the life of a person either lost to suicide or who is living with the impact of suicidal ideation. Everymind and the National Mental Health Commission acknowledge the experience of distress and each life that has been lost. By increasing our understanding of data alongside the experience of distress, we increase our ability to intervene earlier and save lives.

A detailed contextual analysis about this data release can be found here.

Suicide Monitoring System Lived Experience Consultation with young people

The National Mental Health Commission and the AIHW partnered with Orygen to hear from young people with a lived experience of mental ill-health and suicide either through personal experience of mental ill-health, suicidal attempt or ideation, or experience as a carer or bereaved family member.

The young people shared their needs for suicide information and their experience of the Suicide and Self-Harm Monitoring System website. A summary of the findings is available here.

The findings showed that young people have a desire to increase their knowledge of suicide to help themselves and their community, and they found the website was a useful resource to do this.

Young people also provided suggestions that would improve the website’s accessibility, functionality and level of engagement. The team at AIHW are currently implementing these changes.

For further information on national suicide data visit the Life in Mind national suicide data page.

Note: In addition to the releases today, a routine scheduled update of the suicide registers data will be published tomorrow (9 December) and will be available via the AIHW website.

Tips for safely communicating about suicide data

Media, communications professionals and people in the suicide prevention sector are reminded to be responsible and accurate when communicating about suicide and suicide attempt data.

• Remember that data does not show the full impact of suicidal behaviour.
• Be mindful of the impact that frequent and prolonged reporting on suicide data and suicide deaths may have on the community.
• Report on rates, as opposed to numbers alone. Caution should be taken when comparing across time periods or groups and you should seek advice on interpretation of data.
• Avoid simplistic explanations for why a person has died by suicide, by ensuring risk factors are reported in their broader context and not attributing the death to a singular cause or risk factor.
• Use correct terminology when reporting on suicide data and person-centred and strengths-based language that is non-stigmatising.
• Seek expert opinion to provide context and perspective – including the perspectives of people with a lived experience of suicide.
• Remove or minimise details about the method or location of suicide and remember to promote help seeking information.

For more guidance on communicating safely on suicide and self-harm, visit the Mindframe website as well as the National Communications Charter guidelines.

Background

The National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring Project was established in 2020 as part of the national effort to address suicide and self-harm in Australia. In partnership with the National Mental Health Commission, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has been funded under the Australian Government Department of Health to increase transparency and access to information providing Australians with a more informed understanding of suicide, intentional self-harm, and suicide risk.