2. Suicide prevention
  3. Approaches

Promotion of wellbeing

Wellbeing is influenced by a number of individual, social, demographic, environmental, and biological factors. Public health approaches to suicide prevention focus on promoting and maintaining the wellbeing of individuals and communities.

Wellbeing can be viewed as protective by helping to mitigate risk factors for suicide. Individuals and communities have an active role to play in creating and maintaining wellbeing to protect themselves, and others from experiencing mental health concerns and suicidal thoughts or distress.

What does this mean?What activities support this?
WellbeingThe health of the whole person – physical, mental, social and emotional. 1
  • Engaging in regular self-care activities.
  • Ensuring communities are safe and inclusive with access to housing, transport, education and employment.
  • Evidence-based strategies to build resilience in early childhood, schools and workplaces.
  • Effective and safe communication about suicide to reduce risk to others affected by or exposed to the death.
  • Using safe and non-stigmatising language in all communication.

Investing in the promotion of mental health and wellbeing, and the prevention of suicide, supports a more efficient use of mental health and suicide prevention resources, whilst having a positive impact across all levels of government, health care systems and services, workplaces, education settings, justice systems, individuals, families and communities.

It is important that promotion of wellbeing and suicide prevention information and activities are evidence based, include safe and non-stigmatising language and encourage help-seeking behaviours.

Prevention First (adapted): A Framework for Suicide Prevention
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Notes

1

Mindframe glossary of terms: https://mindframe.org.au/gloss...

In this section

Self-care

Self-care refers to activities that preserve and maintain one’s physical, emotional and mental health. Use the Life in Mind resources and self-care guides and share with colleagues, peers or family and friends.