Suicidal ideation and crisis related to suicide is an issue that is continually raised in the media and is of significant concern for children and young people around Australia.
For yourtown’s Kids Helpline Service we deal with these issues on a daily basis. 17% of all contacts with Kids Helpline in the Financial Year 2022 / 2023 involved suicide related concerns and 42% of contacts requiring immediate support involved a suicide attempt. However, we know that this is not the full story. There are areas where there are greater numbers of contacts occurring related to suicidality and there are different demographic groups who overrepresented in our data and the data related to suicide. To be able to best target interventions, support and education we need to understand who the target audience is and what issues are impacting on their lives.
We are therefore aware that there needs to be a greater investment in early intervention and the provision of support prior to children or young people reaching a crisis. yourtown has been embracing human centred design and co-design principles in several projects to ensure the voices of young people are not just informing but driving change, shaping our advocacy work and service design, and reforming and reshaping the work of yourtown and Kids Helpline. This work is vital given the trends we are seeing when children and young people contact Kids Helpline.
This presentation will provide information about the work of Kids Helpline, with a focus on the locations and demographic groups where there are significant trends related to suicidality. There will be a particular focus on those living outside of major centres where we know support can be more difficult to access. It will then explore the actions which yourtown and Kids Helpline have taken alongside children and young people to improve our services, provide more effective supports and how we can assist children, young people and the community, before they reach a crisis point.