The LiFE Awards (Living is for Everyone) are designed to acknowledge the extraordinary work being done throughout the country in suicide prevention and showcase dedication, innovation and leadership.
The ambition of Suicide Prevention Australia is to celebrate and amplify initiatives that are breaking new ground so that others can learn and embed best-practice suicide prevention solutions across their communities. The LiFE Awards are a vehicle for highlighting best practice across the sector so that everyone can learn from them and be able to introduce new suicide prevention solutions into their own communities.
On Tuesday 19 March 2024, Suicide Prevention Australia hosted the Victorian LiFE Awards at the offices of Oliver Wyman in Collins Street, Melbourne. The evening showcased the important work being done in Victoria by individuals and organisations to prevent suicide and support those in need.
The evening was led by Victorian State Committee Chair, Alison Asche, who alongside Suicide Prevention Australia Board Chair, Angela Emslie AO, and Board Member, Graeme Holdsworth, announced the following recipients:
Communities in Action Award: Live4Life
Live4Life, a registered health promotion charity which began in the Macedon Ranges in 2010, brings together rural communities to improve youth mental health and reduce suicide. Live4Life delivers evidence-based mental health education in schools and wider community, creates local partnership groups to lead conversations about mental health and suicide prevention, and promotes young leaders as mental health ambassadors. Over 21,000 young people in Live4Life communities have improved their mental health literacy, help-seeking and help-offering.
Outstanding Contribution Award: Dr Claire Kelly and Dr Laura Hart (Joint winners for their collaboration on teen Mental Health First Aid)
Dr Claire Kelly of Melbourne University along with Dr Laura Hart of Mental Health First Aid Australia developed the teen Mental Health First Aid program to train adolescents in how to better support peers with mental health problems, including those with suicidal thoughts. Since 2014 when it was first launched, 4,735 programs have been run across 578 Australian schools to almost 100,000 students. The program has also been licensed in 17 other countries, including the USA, Canada, India, UK, Germany and NZ. In the USA, Lady Gaga’s Born this Way Foundation funded its adaptation and roll out, leading to more than150,000 US teens having been trained. The course teaches students how to apply a 5-step action plan to help a friend experiencing a crisis, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The international version of the program has been adapted locally to address the culture for each country.
Priority Populations Award: UrHere
UrHere is an online campaign, developed by young people for young people, that uses social media platforms to provide young people information and support. It was developed in 2021, following a number of suicides in the Murrumbidgee region, when young people said what was needed was an online community. Parents, carers and trusted adults need support to understand warning signs and then have open, non-judgmental, validating conversations. Young people are educated and supported to use safe, trauma-informed language. All posts have clear call-to-actions and accessible referral pathways available to young people needing additional supports. The Wellways project team (including young people) closely monitors comments. The TikTok UrHere community has grown to almost 10,000 young people with 2,100,000+ views and 51k likes.
Innovative Practice and Research Award: Prevent a Suicide What to Say App
The “Prevent a Suicide: What to Say” App is a new suicide prevention tool, providing medically approved texts which allow any member of the public to respond constructively and with personal impact to anyone mentioning suicide. As no training is required, anyone can intervene effectively when suicide is mentioned, by immediately and repeatedly sending messages from the hundreds of medically approved texts. This App overcomes existing hurdles, such as medical practitioners not being readily available or people contemplating suicide not ringing crisis lines or people who know someone contemplating suicide not having someone on hand to tell them how to help.
Suicide Prevention Australia would like to thank all those who submitted a nomination for the awards. We recognise that through our collective efforts, we are stronger together in preventing suicide.
We would also like to extend a special thank you to our pro-bono partner, Oliver Wyman, who hosted the event at their Melbourne offices. We greatly value their support.
Recipients of the Victorian State LiFE Awards automatically progress into the running of the National LiFE Awards which will be held during the 25th National Suicide Prevention Conference, 30 April to 2 May 2024 in Adelaide, South Australia.
For more information about the LiFE Awards, click here.