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.
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.
At a statewide level, Primary Health Tasmania continues to work with pharmacy and general practice organisations to look at ways of supporting community pharmacists and GPs in suicide prevention.
The Pharmacy Project, supported by Primary Health Tasmania, is helping community pharmacists to play a meaningful role in suicide prevention by building their confidence and skills to respond to people in distress and at risk of suicide. It is a collaboration between the Black Dog Institute, the Tasmanian branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), the Tasmanian Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Curtin University,
To date, more than 80 pharmacists from the approximately 160 community pharmacies in Tasmania have undertaken evidence-based suicide prevention training and have gained access to additional resources that will help them identify signs of suicidal behaviour among their customers.
The first stage of the project involved a literature review and co-design workshops with pharmacists, which helped identify three priority action areas: advanced suicide prevention training for pharmacists, localised health pathways, and means restriction.
A customised educational program for pharmacists was co-created and piloted in 2019. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, an online version of the training was developed and rolled out in 2020/21.
In parallel, the project team worked to develop dedicated accompanying materials for use in community pharmacies, including encouraging the use of Tasmanian HealthPathways.
A survey about means restriction is being conducted across Tasmania, alongside targeted interviews to understand the role pharmacists currently play in restricting the means used for suicide, in the case of pharmacies ‘staged supply’. Staged supply aims to reduce risk of prescribed medication overdose by limiting medication quantities for patients identified as being at risk of suicide. This part of the project aims to create a comprehensive picture of how staged supply works in pharmacies across Tasmania and identify challenges and areas for improvement in the care provided to people in crisis. The project will continue until June 2022.
“The training upskilled us to be able to help people and refer them on to their GP, [as well as] services like Black Dog Institute, Beyond Blue and Lifeline. It really increased our skills and confidence in talking to people that appear to be distressed.”
Serena Hayward, owner, Mews Pharmacy.
Contact us if you would like to know more.
Primary Health Tasmania encourages people to undertake ‘gatekeeper training’, which provides the tools and confidence to have a conversation with and respond to someone who may be at risk of suicide.
We have received licences for two short online training courses so that Tasmanians can undertake gatekeeper training for free.
The content of this training isn’t clinical, but can be useful for non-clinical staff at a health service – for example, reception staff.
Click here to find out about the QPR Institute’s QPR (question, persuade, refer) training, which takes one to two hours.
Click here to find out about the Black Dog Institute’s Recognise and Respond training, which takes one hour.
Instructions for accessing these free online training courses are available in the fact sheets linked above.
Under the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement, the Australian, state and territory governments have committed to achieving what is referred to as ‘universal aftercare’.
The concept of universal aftercare expands the pathways to suicide aftercare support beyond hospital settings. It involves connecting people with aftercare services across various settings where people may present with suicidal distress.
The Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Strategy also highlights the need to increase the availability, accessibility and quality of aftercare services in Tasmania for people following a suicide attempt or for people who are experiencing a suicidal crisis.
Tasmania is the first state to adopt the National Communications Charter — a unifying resource for mental health, suicide prevention, government, business, and community organisations. On a local level, the Tasmanian Communications Charter champions a safe and stigma-free approach to talking about suicide that is consistent across various branches of the community.
Primary Health Tasmania is signatory to the Tasmanian Communications Charter.
You can find out more about it here.
Primary Health Tasmania has produced a range of Tasmanian HealthPathways for local practitioners on topics such as:
Click here to access our Tasmanian HealthPathways portal, which is a free, evidence-based online resource for Tasmanian health professionals. It provides local guidance on best-practice assessment, management of common medical conditions, and referral options.
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.
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: