Central Queensland Rural Health has been an advocate for collaboration and integration across health services for many years. We will engage with local communities across Central Queensland (CQ) to establish strategic suicide prevention partnerships. These partnerships will enable collaboration across health services and communities to develop the CQ Suicide Prevention Plan. This plan will combine the plans for each local government area.

Central Queensland Rural Health has received funding from the Central Queensland, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast Primary Health Network (PHN) to establish and operationalise a comprehensive community suicide prevention plan.

This Plan will be aligned to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the Black Dog Institute Suicide Prevention Framework, for the Central Queensland region and in in partnership with Central Queensland Wide Bay Sunshine Coast PHN, Central Queensland Hospital and Health Services (HHS) and other local organisations in the Banana, Central Highlands, Gladstone, Livingstone, Rockhampton and Woorabinda local government areas (LGAs).

A key component in the development of the local plans will be a survey that will assess views about the needs relating to suicide in your community.

Following the survey, we will consult with service providers, consumers, local government and non-government organisations in each local government area to encourage and facilitate a co-design process to develop a set of local priorities and actions to be implemented as part of the CQ Suicide Prevention Plan.

The CQ Suicide Prevention Plan will then support the PHN in their role to commission community based suicide prevention activities integrated with drug and alcohol services, mental health services and social and emotional wellbeing services.

If you would like to be involved in the CQ Suicide Prevention Plan in any way, please contact our Projects Team on (07) 4992 1040 or email deirdre.fagan-pagliano@cqrdgp.com.au.

For more information about LifeSpan, please go to http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/research/lifespan

LifeSpan aims to build a safety net for the community by connecting and coordinating new and existing interventions and programs, and building the capacity of the community to better support people facing a suicide crisis. Based on scientific modelling, LifeSpan is predicted to prevent 21% of suicide deaths, and 30% of suicide attempts.