Suicide prevention

Suicide affects individuals, families and communities in Tasmania and across Australia.

Primary Health Tasmania is working with communities and service providers to reduce the incidence and impact of suicide.

National Suicide Prevention Trial

Tasmania is one of 12 sites around the country taking part in an Australian Government-funded trial, which aims to test how a community-led approaches can help reduce the rate of suicide attempts and deaths.

The three Tasmanian trial sites are:

Activity in each trial site is coordinated by a local organisation which works closely with community members and service providers: St Helens Neighbourhood House in the Break O’Day municipality, Launceston City Council in Launceston’s northern suburbs and Relationships Australia in the north west.

Each trial site will use the Black Dog Institute’s LifeSpan approach to suicide prevention – a model that combines nine evidence-based strategies to develop a “safety net” for vulnerable people in a community.

The Australian Government has provided $3 million for the Tasmanian component of the trial, which focuses on men aged 40-64, as well as men and women over the age of 65 and will run until June 2020.

Click here to find out more about trial activity in Tasmania, and how to get involved.

Question, Persuade, Refer

As part of the Australian Government’s National Suicide Prevention Trial, Primary Health Tasmania has purchased licences for QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Gatekeeper Training through the Black Dog Institute.

QPR is an online education program that aims to teach people the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to respond following three steps: Question, Persuade and Refer.

Click here to find out how you can access the free training.

Our commissioned activity

Primary Health Tasmania also supports other local initiatives designed to reduce suicide, as part of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

This includes working with local organisations to provide early intervention programs for people in remote and rural parts of the state, as well as those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

We also target workers by supporting workplace training in mental health and wellbeing awareness, resilience skilling and capacity building across different industries.

Find out more about our commissioned services by exploring Our Services Portal.

Mark Fishwick was relaxing at home one Saturday night when his phone unexpectedly rang. It was one of the Tasmanian Building Group Apprenticeship Scheme (TasBGAS) field officer’s apprentices, and he wasn’t in a good place.

“It was strange of him to call at that time, and I worked out that he was considering self harm,” he remembers.

Mark, who has spent the last 20 years managing apprenticeships in Tasmania, was able to use some of his own training to de-escalate the young man’s distress.

He’s lost three apprentices to suicide in his lifetime – but, thankfully, none since TasBGAS started working with OzHelp Tasmania to deliver training and support to the young workers in their care.

Helplines

Primary Health Tasmania does not offer health services, crisis, or emergency support.

Your regular general practitioner/doctors surgery should always be your first point of call if you need medical or mental health care

In an emergency, call Triple 000 for Ambulance, Fire or Police

For health advice on health services open at night, public holidays and weekends, visit the Tas After Hours website.

The following helplines are also available for urgent assistance:

Mental Health Services Helpline (DHHS) 1800 332 388
Lifeline Crisis Help 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
Drug and Alcohol Counselling (DHHS – Afterhours) 1800 811 994
Poison Information Centre 13 11 26