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Referrals for Mind Australia’s LGBTIQA+ Aftercare support service have increased 65% between 2023 and 2024.

Mind’s submission to a public consultation on the draft Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy says behind this rising statistic lies a number of determinants indicating disadvantage and other physical and demographic risk factors.

33% of Mind’s LGBTIQA+ service users report homophobia or transphobia, while 23% report safety concerns. An increasing number of LGBTIQA+ service users also reported living with chronic pain. Asylum seekers and refugees are also prevalent support seekers, fleeing persecution based on their identity.

Mind’s submission highlights that this sits within deepening evidence of hardship in the broader community as a whole. In the midst of a housing and cost-of-living crisis. 49% of Mind’s service users report financial and/or housing issues, 40% were unemployed and many report skipping meals or experiencing food insecurity.

Mind’s submission offers suggestions to the National Suicide Prevention Office related to our expertise providing aftercare support to LGBTIQA+ people. Mind has a deep understanding of the need for effective peer-led work in this critical area, across the sector.

Mind’s LGBTIQA+ Aftercare program is recognised as an exemplar in LGBTIQA+ and peer-led suicide care. It provides identity-affirmative support and care for LGBTIQA+ people who have experienced a suicidal crisis. All staff working within Aftercare have a lived experience of suicidality and of being part of the LGBTIQA+ community.

As an intensive outreach service, Aftercare can provide up to three months of assistance by a mental health clinician (psychologist, social worker, psychotherapist, or registered counsellor) and an LGBTIQA+ peer practitioner who acts as a ‘mentor’ or exemplar for recovery. At every level, peer practitioners are involved in program design and implementation, ensuring that otherwise marginalised voices are involved in tailoring suicide support that reflects local community needs. 

The National Suicide Prevention Office’s public consultation is part of the process of preparing the Australian Government’s next National Suicide Prevention Strategy. 

“Mind commends the National Suicide Prevention Office (NSPO) on the depth, breadth and ambition of the draft Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy,” said Mind’s Executive Director Lived Experience Katie Larsen. 

“We welcome the NSPO’s recognition that suicidal distress comes from the complex interaction of social determinants of mental health and a range of individual risk factors. Similarly, we commend and share the draft Advice’s emphasis on the population groups disproportionately impacted by suicide.”

“We hope that the new National Strategy can take into account all of the factors that impact on suicide and suicide prevention in Australia so we can work together as a community to achieve better outcomes.”

Katie co-authored the submission with Mind’s Manager Policy and Strategy, David Threlfall.

Mind proposes five actions as priorities for better LBTIQA+ suicide prevention:

1. Increase support for LGBTIQ+ young people and their families, carers and kin, to facilitate good mental health and supportive relationships, with a focus on the intersections between key coming out milestones and increased suicide risk.

2. Increase the availability of safe and appropriate suicide prevention services for LGBTIQA+ people by:

  • Embedding designated LGBTIQ+ peer workers across suicide prevention services by resourcing dedicated positions
  • Resourcing an LGBTIQ+ organisation/s to develop and implement a capacity-building program for suicide prevention services to provide a safe and affirming workplace for peer workers and service for LGBTIQ+ people
  • Resourcing an LGBTIQ+ organisation/s to provide support to designated LGBTIQ+ peer workers in suicide prevention services through peer supervision, a community of practice and a resource hub.

3. Establish dedicated lived and living experience roles and governance bodies centrally and/or within departments and agencies to ensure lived and living experience of suicide is integrated into decision-making processes for policies and programs with relevance to suicide prevention.

4. Trial and evaluate models that facilitate partnerships between health and non-health services to enable delivery of coordinated and holistic support that addresses diverse drivers of distress for people experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours and their family, carers and kin.

5. Build on the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement to progress a national approach to suicide prevention that enables cross-portfolio and whole-of governments planning, sets priorities and targets, and outlines responsibilities and accountability for suicide prevention outcomes consistent with the suicide prevention model outlined in this Strategy. 

Read the full submission here.