The ATSISPEP will evaluate the effectiveness of existing suicide prevention services and programs in combating suicide and suicide ideation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

It will provide a report to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs by 31 August 2015 making recommendations for improvements to, or alternative evidenced-based service and program delivery models, where indicated by the evaluation.

Project objectives

To evaluate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention services and programs

• Undertake a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of suicide prevention and post-vention to evaluate the effectiveness of suicide prevention services and programs that have not previously been evaluated, as well as relevant non-Indigenous programs that have been evaluated.
• Develop a culturally appropriate suicide prevention service and program evaluation framework.
• Undertake a comprehensive review (of both literature and data) and statistical analysis of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention services and programs around Australia, mapping the location of these programs and services and the incidence of suicide.

To identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community suicide prevention needs

• Undertake a minimum of three regional roundtable consultations in WA’s Kimberley region (Broome), NT (Darwin) and VIC (Mildura) to identify what communities need to prevent suicide and to hear first-hand of community experiences with suicide prevention services and programs to help identify what works and why.
• Additional consultations and/or targeted fora will be undertaken subject to available funding. Targeted regions include Cairns (QLD), Adelaide (SA) and the Shoalhaven area (NSW), while the targeted national topical issues groups may include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth; those recently re-entering communities following incarceration; and those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
• Undertake community consultations with selected communities to pilot the proposed evaluation framework – potentially as part of the roundtable consultations.
• Examine the feasibility of critical response ‘intervention teams’ for working with communities and areas with suicide clusters and identify and develop a range of options for immediate suicide prevention services for communities (i.e. 24/7 services, post-vention programs).
• Develop resource materials for suicide prevention and healing activities that will assist in raising awareness of available services within communities and help in improving communications.

To identify system-level change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention

• Map patterns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide and self- harm across Australia by location, from information from the ABS and other sources.
• Map suicide prevention services and programs.
• Analyse the 100+ projects submissions for Taking Action to Tackle Suicide (TATS) funding submitted to the (then) Department of Health and Ageing in 2012-13.
• Develop a position paper and make recommendations for the implementation of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy.
• Investigate and report on the potential of a national summit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention and the establishment of a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention alliance.

The above objectives will be informed by international and national models of best practice and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community perspectives.