"…I have suffered from depression (though haven't attempted suicide) and the idea that hushing up media reporting would have any impact on the thought processes of sufferers is patronising and offensive…"

"…I lost my wife and trying to keep my son alive. Please shut up. The place for talk is not in the media. It is in safe places where the person affected can talk, not just receive media messages…"

Personal stories about suicide bereavement may provide opportunities for useful public discussion that focuses on the impact of suicide. These opportunities, however, may come at a personal cost to those people bereaved by suicide, and their wider family unit, which needs to be considered first.
Given the lack of evidence looking specifically at the issue of suicide bereavement and the media, the Hunter Institute of Mental Health has been working with an expert reference group in the past year to conduct a scoping study under the Mindframe National Media Initiative. This scoping study has explored the different views and needs of people bereaved by suicide with regards to managing media interactions.

The outcomes of focus groups with people bereaved by suicide and additional key informant interviews with journalists, police, postvention workers and people bereaved who have participated in media stories, shows the complexity of this issue. People generally identified both opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed.

In general, people were supportive of more media stories about suicide as long as they focussed on the impact that suicide has or on promoting help-seeking behaviour. At the same time, however, they reported that stories about suicide “stood out” to them and that impacts could include “re-traumatisation and increased grief symptoms after reading about another person’s bereavement”.

People bereaved by suicide have generally been motivated to participate in a media story through a sense of altruism compelling them to take on an educative or advocacy role, using the media as a vehicle to raise awareness about suicide.

Those people who had participated in a media story reported that it could be either a positive or negative experience for them depending on how the journalist treated them, how the story was framed and the time it occurred.

Most people believed it was unhelpful to participate in a media story at the time of the initial trauma. This can be challenging, because for some media, this is the very time they may be considering a report.

Of particular interest to the study was the fact that not one of the people bereaved by suicide had been provided with any support around media engagement at the time they participated in a media interview. Journalists also found interactions to be challenging, often feeling conflicted about how and when it was best to involve someone bereaved by suicide in a story.

It is clear that further work to support all stakeholders to navigate this issue is important. As a community we need to maximise the opportunities that personal stories provide, while managing the risks.

What I would like to see is more coordination of the suicide prevention sector, thoughtful planning about media messages at national, state and local level and more formal support and training for people with personal stories who are vital to any media story about suicide.

While the media have formed good relationships with mental health organisations and are generally aware of how to access personal stories about mental illness, the same does not occur with the issue of suicide.

This we need to address, and quickly, if we want media to answer our calls for more frequent but constructive coverage of the issue.

By Danny Lannen

Award-winning newspaper journalist Danny Lannen from the Geelong Advertiser has been a leading champion for the annual Barwon headspace RUOK? Campaign - his stories highlighting support and promoting preventative messages surrounding suicide for his local community. Here he provides his views on the topic from a journalist perspective.

People bereaved by suicide find themselves in a very particular pain engulfed in a very particular silence in a very particular isolation. There is power to be unlocked in breaking that silence but it must be done with care and caution and for a reason. Those who have lost someone can themselves be vulnerable and at risk of rash choices. That’s part of the reason reporting suicide has so long remained a no-go zone.

The journalist must be mindful of these issues but my experience is that most people left behind by suicide are aching to break that silence. Publicly exposing broken hearts might be one of the biggest things they ever do but also the most powerful.

Having their voices heard and amplified with sensitivity and respect, sharing a message that suicide is not the answer, can be affirming and strengthening at a distressing time. Many of the bereaved can find their loss accompanied by degrees of shame. Shining a light on the person they so valued, magnifying sense of loss and sharing the heartfelt “what if?” questions can help break down that shame and share such powerful messages about being aware of people’s vulnerabilities.

Interviewing the bereaved is never easy. Talking about suicide can come with heightened sensitivities and certainly the story demands special care in the writing. People are likely to share in the interview far more than needs to, or should, be written.

Language needs to be used with care. Journalists should know Mindframe guidelines and while not necessarily being governed by them should be guided by them. Stories can still be so powerful without being sensationalist or brutal and they should never be gratuitous. Where possible they should seek to go further than including essential helplines and run a side story with advice from medical experts. There is much power to be unlocked in the particular silence surrounding suicide and the best informed are those who have lived the tragedy.

Their testimonies can be keys to unlocking the conversations we have to have.

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Since it began, the program has directly assisted well over 1,100 people with counselling and group support and has conducted regular education and training sessions with other professionals in the health, welfare, education and community sectors across Victoria.

Support After Suicide has developed considerable expertise in directly assisting people bereaved by suicide and noted the need to extend the reach of this support to others in our community who are not able to access the service in Melbourne.

With this in mind, on World Suicide Prevention Day this year, 10 September, Support After Suicide launched a new website feature for people bereaved by suicide. In addition to the resources that were already available on the Support After Suicide website, new pages and stories have been added including a new page for those very recently bereaved, ‘It's Just Happened’.

The major new feature however is an online community for people in Australia who have lost a loved one to suicide. This is a private and safe online space where people bereaved by suicide can meet, share experiences and support one another.

The online community site has a member's page where profiles and stories can be shared. There are also forums for discussion on topics such as guilt, blame, preparing for Christmas and family issues. There is an additional page where members can place important dates such as the anniversary, birthday etc so these can be shared with the community and photos can be uploaded to the site to provide a personalised experience.

Already those who are participating in the new online service are finding it helpful. One member recently commented, “I like connecting with other members, reading the postings and reading articles that I would not have known about.
“It is a wonderful way to keep connected and I don't feel so isolated and as if I am the only one that has gone through this. Although logically I know I am not on my own, sometimes I feel that. Since this online community has been available I know I can connect with someone at any time.”

The Support After Suicide online community brings together people who are bereaved by suicide and provides the opportunity for them to meet in a confidential online environment. Members across Australia, including rural and regional locations, can discuss issues and seek advice from those who understand their experience.

Visit the site: www.supportaftersuicide.org.au or if you would like any further information or some information cards to pass on to bereaved people you come into contact with, please let us know: (03) 9427 9899 or email aftersuicide@jss.org.au

Support After Suicide is a program of Jesuit Social Services and is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing under the National Suicide Prevention Program.

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Barry Taylor (Capacity Development Project Officer) brings to the project a wealth of knowledge and experience in complex social health issues. Barry has worked in suicide prevention & mental health promotion for 24 years at the local, national and international levels.  He has sat on State and Federal advisory groups, co-wrote the guidelines for suicide prevention in Australian schools, and implemented numerous projects and training resources for capacity building in local communities. 

Phase one of the project involved an online survey of LGBTI people about their perceptions and experiences of suicide and mental health and the support services that are available. Over three quarters of the respondents agreed that suicide is one of the most significant issues in the LGBTI community but only 40 per cent of respondents felt they would be confident dealing with the situation if someone close to them had thoughts of suicide or self-harm. 86 per cent believed that having LGBTI specific mental health and suicide prevention services is important.  Respondents identified that awareness training on LGBTI health issues for GPs and mainstream mental health and suicide prevention providers as the most important initiatives to help make a positive difference, along with LGBTI specific programmes. 

Also surveyed were mainstream suicide prevention and mental health services. Despite the over-representation of LGBTI persons in suicide and mental health statistics, only 18 per cent of the 143 services that responded, currently included the LGBTI community specifically in their goals and/or strategic plan. Only 28 per cent of agencies had LGBTI awareness training for client-facing/direct care staff and volunteers.  However nearly three quarters acknowledged that mental health is one of the most significant issues in the LGBTI community and 65 per cent saw suicide as a significant issue. 85 per cent had an anti-discrimination policy with a positive statement of care and 56% have patient intake forms that include options inclusive of transgender, intersex and other gender diverse people. The findings of the survey are available online at the Alliance’s website.

Informed by the findings of the MindOUT! survey, the project will undertake a variety of activities including:

• Assisting LGBTI organisations to be more responsive to suicide prevention and mental health issues for LGBTI persons and communities
  
• Working with mainstream mental health and suicide prevention organisations to assist them to be more responsive to the needs of LGBTI persons and communities
  
• Piloting a LGBTI champions programme in mental health and suicide prevention services
  
• Facilitating a forum for discussion, information sharing and research on LGBTI suicide prevention and mental health through a LGBTI mental health/ suicide prevention network.

For more information, contact Barry Taylor on (02) 8568 1124 or email barry.taylor@lgbtihealth.org.au

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• The Head in the Sand Symposium 
  14 Feb 2012, Perth (WA)
  The Inaugural Head in The Sand Symposium aims to help delegates to understand and limit the impact of mental health issues in the workforce, provide sound strategies to minimise workplace psychological injury risk and generate ideas for how organisations can shift mental health culture.
• Confronting Self-Harm: From Understanding to Responding 
  23 - 24 Feb 2012, Sydney (NSW)
  This forum will address a wide range of issues relating to self-harming in young people, including: the relationship between self-harm and suicide; the unique cultural issues to consider in ATSI and CALD populations; and how we can share our learnings.
• 2012 Voices Vic Mental Health Conference 
  23 - 24 Feb 2012, Melbourne (VIC)
  This interactive, recovery-focused conference will focus on hearing voices, seeing visions and other unusual experiences (typically diagnosed as psychosis). Innovative pathways to recovery will be explored from the perspectives of consumers and peer workers, indigenous communities, different cultures, psychiatry, psychology, occupational therapy, nursing and social work.

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• Griffith University research into why Australian farmers have among the highest risks of suicide of any occupational group.  
• A Griffith University study which shows that the suicide rate among Indigenous Queenslanders is 70 per cent higher than the broader community.  
• A report released by the Commission for Children and Young people which showed that suicide is still a leading cause of death for Queensland teenagers aged between 15 and 17.  
• The NSW Greens call for every NSW mental health patient to be allocated to a community care team as soon as they are discharged.  
• A Coroner’s report which quashed claims of flood related suicides skyrocketing in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley. 
  
• The potential for the emotional fallout from Queensland’s natural disasters to lead to a sharper than usual spike in suicides this festive season
  

For more news stories related to suicide prevention, head to our news page.

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