Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Forum 2022

Theme: Community, Compassion and Connection The program will include invited speakers, workshops and lived experience speakers with a focus on strengthening peer-support across Tasmania. The program has been developed based on input from TSPCN members and includes:

-  Matt Caruana, Lived Experience Speaker

-  Andrew Garrett, Senior Research Officer, Magistrates Court of Tasmania - Coronial Division

- Dr. Aron Groves, Chief Psychiatrist , Department of Health Tasmania

- Dr. Kim Norris, Professor, School of Psychological Sciences

- Stuart Auckland, Program Coordinator, Centre for Rural Health

 Why you should attend: The forum is open to anyone with an interest in suicide prevention and is a great opportunity to network with others with a shared interest including community members, those with lived experience, government employees and service providers.

Cost: Full Registration $90 ($45 Concession)

Limited scholarship positions are available to students and/community members for whom cost would be a barrier to attendance. Speak to one of the Suicide Prevention Project Officers for further details.

Please register before COB June 29th. Pre-forum workshops Thursday 5 June, 11am - 4:00pm (concurrent):

Workshop 1: Connecting with People (CwP) - Suicide Awareness

The Connecting with People program is:

• designed to improve the response given to people in distress or at risk of suicide
• informed by evidence-based principles, lived experience and clinical expertise
• aims to increase the use of a compassionate approach
• aims to reduce stigma
• aims to enhance compassionate response to a person with suicidal thoughts or following self-harm.

The CwP philosophy is that suicide is not inevitable. It moves towards greater focus on compassion, safeguarding and co-designed safety plans.

CwP offers a clinical governance framework and appropriate tools (including the SAFE-Tool) to build knowledge and understanding, and confidence to support people in suicidal distress.

CwP offers a common language to describe the nature and intent of suicidal thoughts. This enables greater clarity, accuracy and consistency between clinicians, consumers, families, carers and organisations. It also improves the quality of documentation.

CwP is supported by Tasmania’s Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Aaron Groves. It is endorsed by the Statewide Mental Health Services Executive for implementation across public mental health services.

This session will focus on delivering the first module of the program - Suicide Awareness

Workshop 2: Standby - What do I say? What do I do ?

An interactive workshop to increase understanding of suicide bereavement and learn basic support skills.

Designed for all community members. Can be delivered as part of work-place professional development for staff. Purpose: To increase understanding of suicide bereavement and learn basic support skills. Topics covered: Postvention, Crisis, trauma and grief. What makes suicide different from other sudden death Beliefs and values Support approaches and best practice Self-care

Workshop 3: Meaningful Connection - Matt Caruana

Meaningful Connection bridges the gap between Surface level and Supportive Relationships.

“People who feel more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression. Moreover, studies show they also have higher self-esteem, greater empathy for others, are more trusting and cooperative and, as a consequence, others are more open to trusting and cooperating with them” - Dr. Emma Seppala (Stanford University: CCARE)

Unfortunately, the 2018 Psychology Week Australian Loneliness Report shows that:

• One in Four Australian Adults are lonely. • Nearly 55% of the population feel they lack companionship at least sometimes. • Lonely Australians are 15.2% more likely to be depressed and 13.1% more likely to be anxious about social interactions than those not lonely. With those statistics showcasing further detriments to people's Mental Health and numbers of suicides, there needs to be a change.

By Strengthening Meaningful Connection with those around us, we start fostering safe and supportive relationships. This'll help people feel closer with those that they value and aid them in being more comfortable in reaching out for support. Taking their relationship(s) from surface to supportive.

Workshop 4: Preventative mental health strategies in LGBTIQ+ communities

This workshop will take participants through key wellbeing and suicide prevention strategies for LGBTIQ+ people. These will be based both on current research and lived experience.

Topics covered may include:

1. Current status of LGBTIQ+ Tasmanians mental health

2. Lived-experience speaker

3. Underlying drivers of psychological distress and mental ill-health

4. Preventative mental health strategies:

• Reducing psychological distress
• Family support
• Affirmation
• Community connection

5. Suicide prevention strategies

• National LGBTIQ+ Suicide Prevention Strategy
• Key organisations in this space
• Qlife and Mindout programs
• Peer-led or safe and inclusive mainstream mental health services
• Crisis support
• Early intervention
• Recovery-oriented, post-vention support in community settings.

Participants would take away with them:

• A nuanced understanding of what causes and can prevent suicide in LGBTIQ+ communities.
• Knowledge of key resources and supports.

Trade Tables:

To facilitate networking, you are invited to bring along relevant resources about your organisation or services to share with attendees. Tables will be available at the venue for you to share promotional material on.  This will be shared space and material must be appropriate to the event. In the interests of reducing waste all unclaimed material should be collected at the end of the event. If you would like to make use of this space at the Forum, please contact one of the Suicide Prevention Project Officers at Relationships Australia Tasmania on 1300 364 277 or at tspcn@reltas.com.au to reserve your spot.

More Information: For registrations and program details contact one of the Suicide Prevention Project Officers at Relationships Australia Tasmania on 1300 364 277 or at tspcn@reltas.com.au for further information.