Recommendation 26

What the Royal Commission said

The Royal Commission called for a coordinated focus on suicide prevention and response.

It recommended the establishment of a new Suicide Prevention and Response Office. The office will be led by a State Suicide Prevention and Response Adviser.

The office will ensure that people with lived and living experience of suicidal behaviour contribute to the development and delivery of suicide prevention and response initiatives. This includes the participation of suicide attempt survivors, people who have experienced suicidal thoughts and behaviours, family members, carers, and people with lived experience of bereavement.

The Royal Commission also called for a new suicide prevention and response strategy. This will be co-produced with people with lived experience of suicide. The strategy will ensure that all parts of government and the Victorian community contribute to suicide prevention efforts.

The Royal Commission found that:

• people with lived experience should contribute to program and policy development
• responsibility for suicide prevention and response must sit at the most senior levels of government
• coordination between programs and services at the Commonwealth and state levels is critical
• there needs to be a system wide approach to reducing suicide
• suicide prevention and response must be everyone’s business.

The Royal Commission called out the need to raise the profile of suicide prevention and response across government. This involves working with all Victorian government departments and key agencies. It also involves working with the Commonwealth Government and other sectors.

The Royal Commission described a need for lived experience-led programs and policies. The knowledge and expertise of people with lived and living experience will be vital to creating high-quality services.

What we've achieved

Suicide Prevention and Response Office and State Adviser

• We established the Suicide Prevention and Response Office within the Department of Health in 2022, led by the State Suicide Prevention and Response Adviser. The Office provides statewide leadership to ensure a coordinated suicide prevention and response approach, working in partnership with Victorian and Commonwealth Government departments and agencies.
• A Suicide Prevention and Response Secretaries’ Board Sub-Committee was established in 2022 to strengthen whole-of-government accountability. Membership includes all Victorian Government departments, WorkSafe Victoria and Victoria Police. The Sub-Committee drives coordinated decision-making to strengthen and elevate suicide prevention and response efforts (Recommendations 26.2.e and 46.2.c of the Royal Commission’s final report).
• The Suicide Prevention and Response Expert Advisory Committee was also established in 2022. It brings together people with diverse lived and living experiences of suicide, alongside clinical, academic and sector experts. The committee ensures these perspectives are embedded in government policies and programs and provides advice to the State Adviser and the Sub-Committee.
• In 2022, the Suicide Prevention and Response Office also began its partnership with the Balit Durn Durn Centre for Excellence in Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention and response initiatives. Through this partnership, the Balit Durn Durn Centre has led the co-design and delivery of activities, in line with the principles of Aboriginal self-determination.

Victoria's strategy for suicide prevention and response

• The Victorian suicide prevention and response strategy 2024–2034 was launched on World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September) in 2024.
• Co-designed with people with lived and living experience of suicide, the Strategy outlines a 10-year vision for a systems-based, whole-of-government and community-wide approach. It is supported by an accountability framework and rolling implementation plans that are responsive to emerging evidence.
• Development of the strategy included:
  • a public submission process
  • targeted conversations with diverse sectors and services
  • roundtable discussions with groups disproportionately impacted by suicide
  • co-design workshops with people with lived and living experience of suicide.

What we're doing

• Implementation of the strategy is overseen by the Sub-Committee and annual public reporting will provide updates on Strategy implementation.
• Read more about the Strategy on the Suicide prevention and response in Victoria page.