Black Dog Institute release white paper: ‘What can be done to decrease suicidal behaviour in Australia? A call to action.’

Black Dog Institute have released their first white paper into suicide prevention that looks at how research and lived experience can support future innovation in suicide prevention.

One of the biggest challenges of contemporary suicide prevention is that initiatives, policies and programs to prevent and respond to suicide are often unable to benefit from research evidence. This is not so much because this evidence is ignored, but because in many cases it does not exist.

Building on the extensive efforts across the suicide prevention sector, Black Dog Institute has developed a white paper that takes a major step towards addressing this critical research gap.

The white paper is a call to action, based on evidence that aims to inform research, policy and service provision so we can reduce the number of Australian lives lost to suicide.

The white paper is a call to action that presents a body of new and synthesised knowledge across four key areas to reduce the number of Australian lives lost to suicide: 

• Meeting the needs of people in suicidal crisis with new models and integrated care 

• The impact of social determinants on suicide and how policy settings can help 

• Suicide awareness campaigns: Are they a valid prevention strategy? 

• Views regarding new directions in innovation in suicide prevention.

Read Black Dog Institute’s white paper here.