Suicide Prevention Project

The Community Broadcasting Association is pleased to welcome you to the August 2010 content of our national suicide prevention and mental health awareness project, developed with the support of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

Each month, our project team develops a series of 20 short radio segments designed to promote help-seeking behaviour and positive lifestyle choices, using interviews with service providers, as well as profiles of people who have successfully dealt with tough times in their lives.

This month (September 2010), we hear about ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can watch out for signs of depression in their children, and look at the link between yarndi (marijuana) and youth mental health in Indigenous communities.

We look at a unique Indigenous suicide prevention program operating in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and look at a program targeting the well being of farming families in Tasmania.

We learn more about postnatal depression, which affects almost 16 per cent of new mothers in Australia, and look at the support that’s available to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds affected by mental illness.

And we profile a range of suicide prevention and mental health services, including beyondblue, Multicultural Mental Health Australia, SANE Australia, Lifeline, the Suicide Call Back Service, and Children of Parents with a Mental Illness.

For more information on this project, please contact the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia on (02) 9310 2999, or email: iwatson@cbaa.org.au.

What's on this month?

Track 1: We provide some advice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents who are worried about the well-being of their children.

Track 2: We speak with Dr. Nicole Highet, the Deputy CEO of beyondblue, about postnatal depression, which affects almost 16% of new mothers in Australia.

Track 3: This track profiles the Yiriman Project, a suicide prevention initiative that works with Aboriginal community and families in the south central and west Kimberley region in Western Australia.

Track 4: We catch up with Lifeline CEO Dawn O’Neil to find out more about the services they offer, especially to people in rural and remote areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Track 5: We travel to Tasmania to hear a personal perspective of someone affected by depression.

Track 6: We speak to Vyv Alomes, the Program Co-ordinator and Rural Outreach Worker with Rural Alive and Well, a Tasmanian organisation providing support to farming families.

Track 7: We talk to Vittoria, is a young woman from an Egyptian, Greek and Italian background who has struggled to deal with issues of mental illness, depression and self-harm.

Track 8: SANE Australia tells us about the Healthy Living Kit, which has been developed to help people living with a mental illness to work towards a healthy lifestyle.

Track 9: This track profiles SQUARE, a suicide prevention program that seeks to increase collaborative practice in responding well to suicide and self-harm.

Track 10: We learn about the Veterans and Veteran's Counselling Service, a national organisation providing counselling and suicide prevention programs for the veteran community.

Track 11: We hear more about the Yiriman Project, a suicide prevention initiative that works with Aboriginal community and families in the south central and west Kimberley region in Western Australia.

Track 12: This track provides an Indigenous perspective on the relationship between ‘yarndi’ (marijuana) and mental health.

NOTE: You may need to right click and choose 'Save As' or 'Save Target' in order to save these files to your computer.