In a major win for youth suicide prevention, Orygen researchers have been awarded almost $3.7 million in funding from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to address critical problems hampering efforts to tackle rising rates of suicide and self-harm in young people.
The MRFF funding will see a new large-scale, interdisciplinary program led by Orygen to transform youth suicide prevention through three interconnected studies – with a focus high-quality data, evidence-based and effective interventions and effective policy and planning for the future.
Lead investigator and Senior Research Fellow at Orygen, Dr Louise La Sala, said that despite increasing need, many young people found it difficult to get the help they needed, and support was not necessarily tailored to their particular needs.
“Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians under 25 – and we know these deaths are preventable,” Dr La Sala said.
“With young people experiencing barriers to accessing traditional services, there is an urgent need for innovative, scalable and personalised suicide prevention solutions that meet young people where they are.
“Our research will address critical evidence gaps, strengthen Australia’s youth suicide prevention research capacity and deliver urgently needed, tailored support transcending traditional services.”
Dr La Sala said the project also had a strong focus on lived experience leadership and youth participation.
“With this project we’re working on a transformative, youth-led shift in suicide prevention,” Dr La Sala said.
“As part of our work we will deliver suicide-specific, co-designed interventions when and where they’re needed, embedded within the digital tools, like mobile phones, and environments such as social media which young people regularly use to communicate their distress and seek support.
“This work is not just driven by the needs of young people, it has been conceptualised in partnership with young people, and lived experience contributions will be vital throughout the project.”
The program will take a multi-pronged approach, developing a national database to monitor and respond to youth self-harm and suicide, as well as adapting, testing and implementing brief, digital youth-led suicide prevention interventions to support young people in moments of crisis.
The program will also explore how young people use digital environments to communicate about self-harm and suicide, and how these platforms (e.g. social media) can offer a key opportunity to reach young people who need support.
Finally, the program will ensure evidence and learnings are integrated into national policy development and service planning through a dynamic systems model, so life-saving interventions can be delivered how, when and where they’re needed most.
The research program will bring together a lived experience advisory group and researchers from multiple institutions with expertise across areas such as suicide prevention, youth mental health, digital and public health, implementation science, co-design and systems modelling. Chief Investigators include researchers from the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney and KU Leuven.