September 11, 2015
It’s just three little words … but it could save a life: Are you okay? The South Burnett threw its weight behind RU OK? Day again this year with yellow balloons springing up in shops, cups of coffee on offer and free breakfasts in Nanango and Kingaroy.
The fifth annual RU OK? event was organised on Thursday by the South Burnett Suicide Prevention Working Group and sponsored by Stanwell.
The message from RU OK? is simple. By simply reaching out to someone else, you could be the one person that stops someone from dying by suicide.
RU OK? Day – which this year coincided with World Suicide Prevention Day – is just one day of the year but it attempts to spread a message that is applicable for every day of the year.
Australia loses someone to suicide every four hours; and every year almost 65,000 people attempt suicide.
Perhaps some of these lives could have been saved if someone had just stopped and said g’day and shared a cup of coffee.
And forget car accidents, drugs, cancer or heart disease … suicide is the biggest single cause of death for all Australians up to the age of 35 to 40.
- Support is available from Lifeline on 13-11-44 or Beyond Blue on 1300-224-636.
 |
 |
* * *
In Kingaroy
A free community breakfast – accompanied by a live broadcast by CROW-FM – was held outside the electorate office of Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington in Alford Street, Kingaroy.
There was a hot breakfast, prepared of the Kingaroy Rotary Club, washed down by heaps of cups of coffee.
* * *
Qld Suicide Prevention Action Plan
The State Government used RU OK? Day to announce a plan which aims to reduce suicide by 50 per cent within the next decade.
Health and Ambulance Services Minister Cameron Dick said that around 600 Queenslanders took their own lives each year, and while Queensland’s rate of suicide was reasonably stable it was still higher than most other States and above the national average.
“This plan outlines 42 actions across the State Government to improve our responses to people at risk of suicide and to support families, communities, service providers and first responders who are impacted by suicide,” he said.
The four priority areas in the Queensland Suicide Prevention Action Plan are:
- Stronger community awareness and capacity so that families, workplaces and communities are better equipped to support and respond to people at risk of, and impacted by, suicide;
- Improved service system responses and capacity to ensure people at risk, including those who have attempted suicide, get the support they need, when and where they need it;
- Focused support for vulnerable groups to address the specific needs of groups and communities experiencing high rates, and at greater risk, of suicide; and
- A strong, more accessible evidence base to drive continuous improvement in research, policy, practice and service delivery.
Mr Dick launched the plan at a forum hosted by the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention.
Implementation of the Action Plan will be overseen by a newly established Queensland Suicide Prevention Reference Group, made up of government and community representatives and including people directly affected by suicide.
The Queensland Mental Health Commission will review the Action Plan after 12 months to ensure that it continues to complement national approaches to suicide prevention.
- External link: The Queensland Suicide Prevention Action Plan
