In 2014 alone, over 600 Victorian lives were lost to suicide. For each of these lives lost, many more people were deeply affected.
The Victorian Government is aiming to halve the suicide rate across Victoria through the implementation of the Suicide Prevention Framework. As part of this effort, six Victorian communities will be trialling a whole-of-population, systems approach to suicide prevention. These trials will see all relevant organisations and services working together to deliver effective suicide prevention at a local level.
Each of these communities will focus their efforts on:
- implementing a range of evidence-based, coordinated strategies at the same time
- multi-sectoral involvement by all government, non-government, health, business, education, research and community agencies
- governance within a local area
- demonstrating sustainability and long-term commitment.
Exploring the particular issues related to Aboriginal people will also form part of this approach.
The trial locations were selected based on the prevalence of suicide in Victoria, population and community demographics, as well as local capacity. The locations are Mornington Peninsula/Frankston, Brimbank/Melton, Whittlesea, Mildura, Latrobe Valley and Ballarat. Each of these areas will be commencing their efforts to drive down the suicide rate in the near future.
More information on this approach is available here
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