Vicki Gordon
CRANAplus Remote Support Officer

I went to the launching by Malandirri McCarthy the Minister for Children, Families and Child Protection, of the NT Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2009-2011 here in Alice Springs recently, with Mark Millard and Gary McFarlane from Bush Support Services.
As the plan says there are a range of complex and connected factors at play when considering suicide. These include mental health problems, drug and alcohol misuse, inadequate education, lack of meaningful or any employment, cultural or sexual identity issues, poverty, sexual physical or emotional abuse, problems with family and the law, grief loss and trauma.
Many of you of course will be more than aware of this and the numbers of people involved.
Suicide is one of the three leading causes of death for those 14-34. (Bertolote et al 2003). Males were almost four times more likely than females to die this way. There has been a drop however from 2720 in 1997 to 1799 in 2006.
In the Indigenous community the rates are at least 40% higher than the national average. The statistics can be a bit tricky with the influence of under-reporting, differences in reporting methods and with the Coronerís involvement this affects the length of time. The ABS reported that in 2006 suicide accounted for 4.3% of all Indigenous deaths compared with 1.3% in other Australians. Suicide in Indigenous populations was virtually unheard of prior to the 1960s. With the increase since then the distribution has been uneven in both time and place.
In the NT the rate has increased markedly since the mid 1990s with a peak in 2002, which is against the national trends. For the period 2002-2006 the rate was 22.4 per 100,000, which is more than double the national average at 10.4 per 100,000. (ABS 2008). Remote Indigenous males, young urban Indigenous males and non-Indigenous males 25-45 in an urban setting appear to be at higher risk than others. It needs to be remembered too though that these differing rates compared to the national level need to be viewed in the context of the higher proportion of Indigenous people, the higher male to female ratio, a younger population and high rates of known risk factors such as alcohol and drug abuse, crime and domestic violence.
In some Indigenous communities there are increasing rates of cannabis use too, which is of concern.
The NT Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention (2003) is based on the Australian Governments Living for Everyone (LIFE) Framework (2000). This was reviewed in 2006 and a revised Framework was released in 2007. The NT Action Plan has retained the original key action areas of the NT Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention and matched these where possible against the revised LIFE Framework for consistency and coordination. There are a range of responses across many different areas. One of the aims is to provide culturally appropriate programs that support community response to the high rates in Indigenous communities.
In each Action Area Enhancing Existing Initiatives and New Initiatives are included looking at various government departments and services/agencies but principally the Dept of Education and Training and Dept of Health and Families
Action Area 1: Promoting wellbeing, resilience and community capacity across the NT
Action Area 2: Enhancing protective factors and reducing risk factors for suicide and self-harm
Action Area 3: Services and support within the community for groups at increased risk
Action Area 4: Services for individuals at high risk
Action Area 5: Partnerships with Indigenous people Enhancing Existing Initiatives
Action Area 6: Progressing the evidence base for suicide prevention and good practice

Some of the themes:
ï The dissemination of information, training and resource development including those that are culturally appropriate
ï Increase of the workforce and expertise
ï Support services for the homeless, bereaved, victims of violence, prisoners and first responders
ï Cross-sectoral collaboration, partnerships, increased co-ordination and whole of govt approach
ï Increased cross-cultural understanding and engagement

Some of the initiatives:
ï Headspace which sounds like a good one stop shop for youth
ï Menís Sheds
ï Wellbeing officers in govt. primary schools
ï Counselors in middle and senior schools
ï Reducing Bullying & Empowering Bystanders package for schools

There is a lot written of programs already in existence many I was unaware of.
Just have to hope this all translates well at the grassroots level.

For more details: www.health.nt.gov.au/Mental_Health

Vicki Gordon
CRANAplus Remote Support Officer
vicki@crana.org.au