DHBs progress suicide prevention plans

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says DHBs are making progress on their suicide prevention initiatives, but there is more work to be done.

Tomorrow is World Suicide Prevention Day – the international theme for 2016 is ‘Connect, Communicate, Care’.

“Suicide is a serious issue, around 500 Kiwis take their lives every year, and many more Kiwis are impacted by each tragic loss. High quality mental health services can play a part in reducing the risk of suicide,” says Dr Coleman.

“Mental health is a key area of focus for the Government. We’ve increased mental health and addiction services funding from $1.1 billion in 2008/09 to over $1.4 billion for 2015/16.

“But there’s always more we can do, and that’s what we’re doing. For example, Budget 2016 includes $12 million of funding over four years to increase support for people to access mental health services at an earlier stage.”

Last year DHBs put in place suicide prevention plans to enable them to work with other agencies and local communities to help reduce the risk of suicide. 

“Feedback shows DHBs have stronger more coordinated suicide prevention initiatives as a result,” says Dr Coleman.

“In MidCentral, the focus has been on reducing cyber bullying. The DHB has provided workshops on prevention and protection from cyber bullying, after working with local Youth One Stop Shop, Palmy Youth Network.

“In Northland, RAID, under the umbrella of Ngāti Hine Health Trust is revitalising the Muriwhenua RAID Movement, and with the DHB is delivering a social media campaign to raise awareness and highlight where people can go for help.

“In Waitemata, frontline community workers have been trained to support adults bereaved by suicide. A number of DHBs have created suicide prevention coordinator roles, including Bay of Plenty and Taranaki, and Canterbury DHB has created new online resources to highlight local suicide prevention services and initiatives.”

This work is part of the Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2013-2016 which includes a number of initiatives to improve mental health, wellbeing and resilience, and to target suicide prevention in Māori and Pasifika communities.

“The current 10-year Suicide Prevention Strategy and four-year Action Plan come to an end this year. Work is well underway to develop a new strategy and action plan, following a series of nationwide workshops,” says Dr Coleman.

More information is available at: www.health.govt.nz/suicideprevention