Australia’s leading support after suicide program, StandBy – Support After Suicide released their new social media video to send messages of hope to Australian’s bereaved or impacted by suicide, and already it has a ‘reach’ of more than 49,000 on Facebook!
The results are seen as an enormous success for the national suicide support organisation, which sees every ‘share, like, comment’ to be a measure of one more person who may be bereaved or impacted by suicide becoming aware of the vital support services offered by StandBy across Australia and which is available to them at no cost.
StandBy approached Guy Sebastian’s management team and SONY music, to secure an agreement to use Guy’s hit song ‘Standing with You,’ a song centred around mental health concerns and the importance of support, from the star who has publicly shared his personal loss to suicide.
The emotive video shows eight members of the StandBy National Lived Experience Advisory group, holding up boards with their stories of personal loss to suicide, and then positive messages of hope and compassion, from the support they received since connecting with the organisation after their loss.
StandBy’s lived experience coordinator Jo Langford coordinated the project and said the ‘reach’ that the video is having is just tremendous.
“It is wonderful to see the engagement this project has received, people are not only viewing and sharing this video, but it is also creating much needed conversations around the topic of suicide postvention,” she said.
“We want people to know there is support out there and we are excited that through this medium the message is being received.”
The video was the idea of StandBy’s Lived Experience Advisory Group member Sian Houghton. Sian said the lyrics and thoughts in the song really spoke to her and resonated with many of the personal experiences of those within the group.
“The lyrics in Guy’s song, give a voice to let people know how special they are, even when they don’t know themselves,” she said.
“My wish from the beginning was to show that being able to connect with people who have travelled the same path can show you aren’t alone. I can’t thank everyone enough for their support to make this video possible. None of us will ever know whose life it may touch.”
In Australia, more than 3,300 people take their own life each year. Research indicates that for every death through suicide 135 people may be impacted and ten or more are significantly impacted.
StandBy provides free face-to face or telephone support across Australia, by specialist teams staff, committed to the wellbeing of the person or group impacted, as well as free resources to support children, teens, workplaces and individuals.
StandBy general manager Karen Phillips says StandBy operates nationally through partnering with local organisations and communities, and that those with lived experience of suicide bereavement are an essential part of guiding their programs, to support communities to help each other.
“Those with lived experience of suicide bereavement bring wisdom and perspective that is critical to informing our program,” said Mrs Phillips.
For more information about StandBy’s support services visit www.standbysupport.com.au
If you need immediate support, please contact Lifeline 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au
StandBy – an initiative funded by the Australian Government.
