Leading groups join push for LGBTI suicide prevention strategy

Leading groups join push for LGBTI suicide prevention strategy

living-depression-mental-healthAs World Suicide Prevention Day was marked across the globe on Tuesday, September 10, the National LGBTI Health Alliance has come together with 25 other organisations, including Suicide Prevention Australia, to launch a national campaign calling for the introduction of a National LGBTI Suicide Prevention Strategy to halve suicides in the country by 2023.

On average, 44 Australians take their lives each week, with research showing LGBTI people have the highest suicide rates of any population in Australia. Same-gender attracted, transgender and intersex Australians have up to 14 times higher rates of suicide attempts than their heterosexual or cisgender peers. It is believed that five out of every six suicides are male.

“The time has come for a serious commitment to a National LGBTI Suicide Prevention Strategy. A targeted strategy will significantly contribute towards halving suicides by 2023 by providing LGBTI people with the same rights and services that other Australians enjoy,” Alliance executive director Warren Talbot said.

The Alliance will also be supporting  a world first self-help program called “Healthy Thinking” developed by researchers at the Black Dog Institute and the Australian National University. Talbot said the program will empower people to take charge of unhelpful thoughts and learn ways to manage them on an ongoing basis.

“Unless services signal overtly that they are LGBTI friendly people are often reluctant to access services,” he said. “Young LGBTI people in particular are unlikely to access face-to-face services but may be comfortable in an on-line environment.”

Along with the Alliance’s campaign, national mental health organisation Beyondblue this week announced it will begin to provide male-dominated workplaces with free or heavily-subsidised training sessions to improve the mental health of workers across Australia. Small and medium-sized workplaces, not-for-profits, unions and businesses in construction, mining, manufacturing and transport are eligible to take part in the programs, Beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell said.

“It is estimated that depression alone causes 6 million lost working days and 12 million days of reduced productivity each year and also costs Australian businesses $12 billion annually in lost productivity and staff turnover,” she said.

“Having a mentally healthy workplace boosts productivity because staff take fewer sick days, are more engaged and stay in their jobs longer.”

INFO: If you or someone you know may be at risk of suicide contact LifeLine Australia on 13 11 14.

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One response to “Leading groups join push for LGBTI suicide prevention strategy”

  1. These figures are quite disturbing, considering how much better life for LGBT is today, compared to my own tormented youth, when the only future an openly gay man in a relationship with another man could theoretically look forward to was life in prison, because homosexuality was a crime at law in both New Zealand and Australia at that time. Even so, the fact that so few were in practice charged under this code, shows that the public tended to tolerate gay people (lesbianism was paradoxically never illegal).

    With most of the prejudice and discrimination now behind us in an era of unprecedented public acceptance, and the only remaining legislative goal being marriage equality, I would have expected this new horizon would give LGBT minorities more hope and more reason to live than at any time in our beleaguered history.

    On eceonomic grounds alone, it’s an problem worthy of public investigation and funding, and it may well be this aspect that finally provokes the new government to take it more seriously.