Earlier this week it was World Suicide Prevention Day.
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The theme for the day was `Working Together to Prevent Suicide’, something this region has been doing actively.
On Thursday, September 13, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven communities will gather to recognise the work being done to actively tackle suicide.
An event, held by the Illawarra Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Collaborative, in Kiama will recognise 12 months since the launch of the Black Dog Institute’s LifeSpan project.
Some of the key milestones of the project include _
- Three hospitals connecting people with new aftercare service.
- 14 general practices signing up to universal mental health screening
- 129 health professionals with advanced training
- 26 schools with mental health programs for 3500-plus students
- Over 1000-plus people trained to recognise and respond to suicidality
- Over 15,000 reached by community awareness campaigns
Since July, the Illawarra Mercury has also teamed with the Collaborative to promote the Care to QPR: Question, Persuade, Refer campaign.
The campaign has helped the community in terms of awareness and access to the latest online training allowing them to be beacons of hope in our region.
The campaign recognised we all have a role to play when tackling the issue of suicide.
As part of the event on Thursday the Illawarra Mercury will Facebook Live a special panel discussion.
The panel will include Adam McRae from Grand Pacific Health, Paul Lillyman from Coordinare, Natalie Lightfoot from Catholic Education and Tim Heffernan from Coordinare and the Local Health District.
The discussion will be facilitated by Illawarra Mercury editor Julian O’Brien.
You can view the panel discussion live on the Illawarra Mercury Facebook page from approximately 9.10 am on Thursday morning.
