Roses in the Ocean open new ‘warmline’ to support people with lived experience of suicide

A new telephone call-back service will support people with lived experience of suicide by connecting them to others with a similar lived experience.

SP (Suicide Prevention) Peer CARE Connect was created by Roses in the Ocean to provide people with an opportunity to connect, be heard, and for their distress to be compassionately explored and understood by another person through the mutual understanding that comes with meaningful shared experience.

This service may assist in providing relief from emotional distress, explore coping strategies, provide suggestions for online resources and/or information.

Although relatively new within suicide prevention, peer support is showing promise as an effective care strategy for reducing distress and promoting help-seeking.^1,2

Those providing the peer support are able to connect with those seeking support on an emotional level due to their own lived experience, which improves the ability of those in distress to talk, as well as to feel acknowledged and heard.²

The service is intended for anyone with lived experience of suicide, for example if they have lost someone to suicide, are caring for someone, have attempted suicide or are living with suicidal thoughts.

• Those seeking support can call, leave a message, and a Peer CARE Companion with similar lived experience will contact them within 48 hours
• Peer CARE Companions may be able to assist with coping strategies by sharing their own process, or just be someone to listen
• They can also link callers to other suicide prevention or more intensive services with other agencies if needed.

Roses in the Ocean CEO Bronwen Edwards said CARE stands for listening with Care, Acceptance, Respect and Empathy.

To contact the SP Peer CARE connect, call 1800 SP PEER (1800 77 7337) at any time, leave a message and a Peer CARE Companion will connect with you within 48 hours.

Note: This is not a crisis line. If you are experiencing crisis please access 24/7 national crisis support numbers and helplines here.

¹ Schlichthorst, M., Ozols, I., Reifels, L. et al. Lived experience peer support programs for suicide prevention: a systematic scoping review. Int J Ment Health Syst 14, 65 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-020-00396-1

² Huisman, A., & van Bergen, D. D. (2019). Peer specialists in suicide prevention: Possibilities and pitfalls. Psychological Services, 16(3), 372–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000255