Victorian Suicide Prevention and Response Strategy 2024-34

The design process was thorough and inclusive, based on a genuine belief in, and commitment to, the value of lived experience. Our approach ensured that the voices of those most impacted by suicide shaped the Strategy’s vision, principles, priority areas, and initiatives.

The design process commenced after targeted conversations between SPARO and key stakeholders, alongside a public consultation process via Engage Victoria. This was followed by extensive discussions, including 14 virtual sector and community roundtables attended by more than 130 participants from diverse backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTIQA+ individuals, veterans, and residents of rural and regional areas.

A virtual co-design process was undertaken with three groups of people with lived and living experience of suicide, including people who have survived a suicide attempt, live with suicidal thoughts, care for or support someone who is suicidal, or are bereaved by suicide. The Strategy was further shaped by consultation with clinicians, people who work with communities disproportionately impacted by suicide, and other experts.

A trauma-informed approach was integral to the process, involving elements such as embedding a Lived and Living Experience Adviser within the team, engaging an independent counselling service, establishing a distress protocol, and using the same facilitators consistently in order to build trust with participants. This approach aimed to do no further harm while drawing upon people’s experiences to generate ideas that will lead to improved outcomes.

The final design was implemented through close collaboration between Nous Group and SPARO and included a whole-of-Victorian Government accountability framework and evaluation advice, ensuring knowledge transfer from the design process to the team that would implement the Strategy.

The project exceeded the brief by setting a new standard for this type of work, genuinely empowering lived and living experience stakeholders to shape the state’s policy objectives and goals.

The Strategy exemplifies good design by adhering to several key principles. Firstly, it is a systems-based, evidence-informed, whole-of-government, whole-of-community document, committed to ensuring that all Victorians have a role to play, and a stake, in lowering suicide rates. This focus on collaborative effort is crucial in addressing the complex issue of suicide prevention and response.

Guided by eight principles, the strategy aims to reduce the rate of suicide, stop the stigma surrounding it and support those impacted. It advocates for continued work across government, service providers and the community to deliver objectives under six priority areas, ultimately falling under a single vision: “All Victorians working together to reduce suicide.”

The needs of the community, especially those with lived or living experience of suicide, was a central consideration, not only in the design process, but also to the final contents of the Strategy. Our inclusive, trauma-informed development approach ensured that the Strategy and its overarching vision were shaped by those most impacted by suicide and was crucial to ensuring that the Strategy’s contents truly reflected the participants’ input.

The project sets a benchmark for good strategic design not only in Victoria but also for Australia and internationally by demonstrating a genuine commitment to co-design and community empowerment, both in process and in impact. The strategys holistic and inclusive approach to suicide, suicidality and bereavement, combined with its focus on evidence-based practices and trauma-informed principles, serves as a model for other regions and countries to follow.

By involving a diverse range of voices and ensuring that the strategy is responsive to the needs of those most affected by suicide, the Strategy establishes a new standard for how such projects can be done by government.

Co-design and lived experience can often be used as buzzwords, particularly in government settings. Our co-design process was groundbreaking in that it displayed genuine commitment to those principles and deeply sought to ensure that those with lived and living experience of suicide be given a chance to help shape the Strategy’s vision, principles, priority areas, and initiatives.

This approach is not only a good in and of itself, it also makes the Strategy more relevant and effective to the people it aims to help. Stakeholders have affirmed the view that Victoria needed to take precisely this kind of collaborative, intersectional, and innovative approach, not only to Strategy development, but to suicide prevention and response itself.

Policies, services and programs are infinitely more responsive, safe, and appropriate when developed in partnership with the people who will use them or be affected by them. This process also engenders trust in both a governments motives and in its final policy outputs. This is crucial at a time of increased distrust in institutions more generally.

Our approach aimed to do no further harm and carefully draw upon peoples experiences to improve outcomes and set a new standard for how such projects can be undertaken by government. Our genuine commitment to co-design and community empowerment demonstrated new ways for governments to think about the development of new policy and strategy and has broader implications for such work in other policy areas.

This commitment continued through the review and validation of the draft Strategy, where SPARO actively engaged people with lived and living experience of suicide to refine and shape initiatives aligned with the co-designed strategic aim, vision, objectives and principles.

The Strategy has been in force just under one year. While it’s too early to see definitive changes in Victoria’s suicide rates, early signs herald the potential for positive impacts across several areas. One notable area is increased awareness of suicide and suicidality in Victoria, with the strategy disseminated across government departments, agencies, service providers and community stakeholders.

Evidence shows that building awareness can reduce stigma and strengthen a community’s ability to respond effectively. With its emphasis on making suicide prevention and response a shared responsibility for all Victorians—and its commitment to placing people with lived and living experience at the centre of design and delivery—the strategy is fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment for change. This is encouraging more informed and open discussions about suicide, mental health and wellbeing. Evidence shows such approaches break down barriers to help-seeking.

Our trauma-informed approach also had a positive impact on many participants and stakeholders, helping them feel genuinely seen and heard, and supporting their wellbeing throughout.

While it is too early to measure the full impact, the groundwork laid by the strategy provides a strong foundation for future progress. It sets a new standard for policy development—one informed by and accountable to those most affected. This commitment is already making a meaningful difference, driving whole-of-government action to elevate suicide prevention and response across decision-making.

This includes co-design of models of care for a dedicated LGBTIQA+ aftercare program and a statewide peer call-back service, implementation of the Distress Brief Support program trial, and support for self-determined approaches to passings by suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Further improvements are expected as implementation continues.