Youth suicide among Aboriginal communities

Youth suicide among Aboriginal communities is much higher than in the mainstream population. Both federal and state governments have highlighted the need to address this public health problem.

Njernda Aboriginal Corporation in Echuca is in the process of developing an early intervention response to suicide among Aboriginal youth.

As part of a larger youth suicide prevention program, this study explores help-seeking preferences of Aboriginal people in the event of a threat of or an attempted suicide in Echuca.

A cross-sectional pilot study wherein a survey of individual community members including Aboriginal youth, adults and Elders as well as service providers from both mainstream and the Aboriginal health service was conducted in Echuca using the Njernda CRUNCH questionnaire.

This is a pictorial questionnaire developed by Njernda to explore the current help seeking preferences of individuals in the event of a threat of or an attempted suicide. It asks participants to indicate how they would respond when confronted with an individual in seven different suicide related scenarios. Mr Stuart Hearn and Dr Anton Isaacs will describe help seeking preferences of people from Echuca when faced with a threat of or an attempted suicide and will provide crucial information in developing early intervention strategies for suicide prevention in rural Aboriginal communities.

Mr. Stuart Hearn, Community Support worker at the Mental Health Unit of Njernda Aboriginal Corporation and Dr. Anton Isaacs Lecturer,  Monash University Department of Rural and Indigenous health at Gippsland in Victoria will present at the:

4th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium to be held on the 19 - 21 November 2012, Adelaide, South Australia.

Web:  https://dev3.anzmh.asn.au/rrmh         Email: ruralhealth@anzmh.asn.au