Individual support driving collective action in suicide prevention

When it comes to suicide prevention and the prevention of mental ill-health, collaboration and collective action drives a significant part of the work that Everymind does.

What contributes to this and to the collective goals of the suicide prevention and mental health sector is individual action and support.

The National Communications Charter (The Charter) empowers and supports individuals to lead by example in the the way they speak about mental health and suicide, whilst embedding a range of principles into their daily life.

In 2017, the Everymind initiative, Life in Mind was funded to redevelop The Charter as part the Government’s new suicide prevention reform investment.

The Charter is now hosted on Life in Mind, a national digital gateway connecting Australian suicide prevention services to each other and the community.

It highlights to the community, that we all have a role to play a role in reducing stigma around mental ill-health and suicide, while also promoting help-seeking behaviour through The Charter's guiding principles and messages

In our first interview, Everymind had a chat to Amy Visser a Senior Project Officer in the Mental Health and Research team at Everymind, to find out why she signed The Charter.

Not only is Amy a singer, songwriter and performer known to the Newcastle community for her talents in the industry, but she is a proud ambassador strengthening the mental health and wellbeing of the music and performing arts industry.

Ms Visser was recently appointed as a Board of Directors Member for Listen Up Music, an Australian music and mental health charity with a mission to harness music’s unique ability to unite the community, facilitate storytelling and promote healing.

1. Become a signatory: Take a minute to sign The Charter online, demonstrating your commitment to reducing stigmatising language and promoting help-seeking and help-offering behaviour.
2. Share the campaign: Individuals, communities and organisations are encouraged to show support of The Charter. Consider ways to promote that you are a signatory and share The Charter key messages, principles, links and #CommsCharter hashtag with others.
3. Implement the principles: Signing The Charter isn't the end of the story. Download The Charter booklet and explore some activities that will help support the principles and key messages within your organisation or local community.

More information:

Find more information on Life in Mind or The Charter at: https://lifeinmind.org.au/the-charter

Follow the campaign online by following @EverymindAU and @LifeinMindAU by using the #SupportTheCharter