May 13, 2015
The South Burnett Suicide Prevention Network held a public meeting at the Kingaroy RSL Club on Wednesday night to discuss possible future directions for the group.
In recent years, the group has published posters, organised roadshows, concerts, R U Ok days, Mental Health Week events, and the popular Depressed Cakes pop-up shops.
The aim has been to raise awareness about suicide and spread information through the community about where help is available.
The events are also designed to destigmatise talking about suicide, encouraging people to reach out for help when they need it.
Wednesday night’s meeting was addressed by Paige Matthews, from the Wesley LifeForce program which supports suicide prevention networks in NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The LifeForce program is an initiative of the Sydney-based Wesley Mission which launched Lifeline more than 50 years ago.
Paige said a Wesley LifeForce suicide prevention network had recently been started at Cherbourg and was in its early stages.
She shared some suicide statistics with the audience:
- More Australians die every year from suicide than the death toll from road crashes, skin cancer or homicide
- NSW has the highest incidence (number) of suicides per year because it has the highest population; Queensland is the second highest
- The Northern Territory has the highest rate (number per 100,000 of population) in Australia
- In the Wide Bay Statistical Area, the Burnett has the second highest suicide rate – ahead of Gympie-Cooloola, Hervey Bay and Maryborough
- 45 people killed themselves in the Burnett between 2007-2012
- The Burnett has a suicide rate of 18.3; the national average is about 13
- Male suicides in other areas greatly outnumber female suicides; in the Burnett the rate is 2:1 – a higher rate of female suicides than the national trend.
Tim Saal, from Rural and Remote Mental Health, said the 14 roadshows that had been organised by his group – including the two visits to Kingaroy by John Schumann organised in conjunction with the local network – had been positive.
“We heard anecdotally about five people who didn’t take their lives, including three who actually had a written plan,” he said.
Mental health nurse Mark Duffy said if the group’s activities saved even one life it was worth the effort.
