This press release was issued by Suicide Prevention Australia 3/02/2022, to see the original release click here.
Today marks an important milestone for the delivery of safe, high-quality and effective suicide prevention and postvention programs across Australia. StandBy Support After Suicide, a leading suicide postvention program, has become the first suicide prevention program to be fully accredited against the Suicide Prevention Australia Standards for Quality Improvement, 1st Edition.
Implemented by Suicide Prevention Australia and assessed by independent, not-for-profit accreditation provider, Quality Innovation Performance Limited (QIP), the Suicide Prevention Accreditation Program supports organisations to deliver safe, high-quality and effective suicide prevention and postvention programs. The goal of the program is to ensure every person who needs support can access a consistently high standard of care.
The Suicide Prevention Accreditation program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.
Suicide Prevention Australia CEO, Nieves Murray said, “It’s been a challenging couple of years for so many Australians and there’s still great uncertainty in our community – it could not be a more important time for Australia’s first suicide prevention accreditation program.
“Congratulations to StandBy Support After Suicide for being the first program in Australia to become accredited. It’s essential that anyone in distress who seeks help, can access services that are safe and actually work.
“This accreditation system will help improve the quality of services and programs available in Australia and, in turn, help save more lives.
“So we can best serve the community, and those in distress, our vision is for all suicide prevention services and programs to go through accreditation,” said Ms Murray.
StandBy Support After Suicide is Australia’s national postvention service, supporting people and communities bereaved or impacted by suicide.
StandBy General Manager, Karen Phillips said, “We are extremely proud that our program is the first to be accredited in Australia; it’s a huge achievement.
“At StandBy, we pride ourselves on delivering programs that are evidence-based and subjected to thorough assessments to measure their true impact on lives and, most importantly, we’re guided by those with lived experience of suicide bereavement.
“Postvention is about supporting families, friends, colleagues and communities at any stage after their loss. Our service is available 24/7, across Australia via our 1300 727 247 support number.
“StandBy has been extensively evaluated with consistent results. Within 12 months after the loss, people who have received support from StandBy reported significantly lower levels of suicidality and loneliness than people bereaved by suicide who did not access support.
“Research consistently finds that StandBy plays an important role in preventing further suicides amongst people bereaved by suicide,” said Ms Phillips.
The Suicide Prevention Accreditation program offers a range of resources and templates that can support suicide prevention programs through the process of becoming accredited. As the exclusive accreditation provider of the program, QIP is dedicated to supporting organisations throughout the assessment process.
Organisations that receive accreditation or are registered to work towards accreditation with QIP will have the opportunity to be listed in the national Best Practice Directory. For more information about the accreditation program, head to our website.
To get help 24/7, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467. If you or someone you know are in immediate danger, phone 000 for emergency services. StandBy Support After Suicide 1300 727 247.
Help to report about suicide safely is available online: Go to https://mindframe.org.au/
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This press release was issued by Suicide Prevention Australia.
