Book release: Profiles in Hope

Fifteen Australians tell their stories of surviving suicide and finding the way back to a better life in a new book by John Brogden AM, Profiles in Hope - released on World Suicide Prevention Day, 10 September 2024.

Every day, nine Australians take their own lives. Nineteen years ago, John came very close to adding his name to these statistics. But he survived and, since his recovery, has become a passionate voice for mental health and suicide prevention. For ten years John was Chair of Lifeline Australia. He is now the Honorary President of LifeLine International.

Personally, and professionally, John knows how urgent it is to talk openly about suicide, and to provide those in despair with a way back when they are at their lowest point. Giving hope to those who think there is no other way out is critical.

Research reports that coverage of people who have overcome suicidal thinking may help to reduce suicides in the community. By sharing lived experience stories of people overcoming or managing suicidal thoughts and behaviours, further suicides can be prevented from occurring and provide a survival blueprint for others who are having these experiences. This was termed the Papageno Effect after a character in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, who overcame his suicidal crisis at the last minute because three boys reminded him of alternative coping strategies.¹

In Profiles in Hope, John aims to break down the silence and shame around suicide. And, to help him, he has gathered together some incredible Australians to tell their stories. Prefaced with a foreword by Sir Peter Cosgrove the book shares the experiences of people including, James Packer, Jacqui Lambie, Tom Boyd, Layne Beachley, Nick Sherry, Preston Campbell and Ian Thorpe, alongside powerful stories of other Australians whose deeply personal accounts of survival and recovery are featured in the book.

This book is for those with an increased risk of suicide and for the people who love them and want to help them. Searingly honest and ultimately life-affirming, these are stories of solace and hope, and a lifeline for dark times.

All profits from sale of the book will be donated to Lifeline Australia.

About the author

John Brogden AM is an Australian businessman, former politician and Honorary President of LifeLine International. John's career in politics started when he became a member of New South Wales Parliament in 1996. In 2002, he was elected Leader of the Opposition on his 33rd birthday – the youngest person ever to lead a major political party in Australia. A national and global leader in suicide prevention and crisis helplines, John's passion for mental illness recovery stems from his own suicide attempt which marked a turning point in his life and reframed the public discourse around depression.