> From: Suicide Prevention Australia >
> Date: 14 October 2009 8:01:45 AM
> To: greg @ dadsontheair.net
> Subject: Senate Inquiry into Suicide in Australia: Have your say.
> Together, we can make a difference…
> Reply-To: [email protected]
>
>
> Suicide and self-harm remain unacceptably high in the Australian
> community with death at least 40% higher than that attributed to the
> national road fatalities.
> Every day, six to seven Australians die by suicide.
> For each person lost by suicide, there are 30 others who have made a
> suicide attempt.
> For every suicide, it is conservatively estimated that, on average,
> another six people will be severely affected by intense grief.
> Suicide occurs in and affects all age groups and people from all
> walks of life.
> The Australian Commonwealth Government has recently announced a
> Senate Inquiry into Suicide in Australia. Suicide Prevention
> Australia (SPA) welcomes this unique opportunity to recognise and
> promote the diverse experiences and views of Australians to help
> strengthen our community’s responses to suicide and self-harm
> prevention, intervention and postvention.
>

> As Australia’s leading advocate for suicide and self-harm
> prevention, SPA intends to make a comprehensive submission to the
> Senate Inquiry. As part of SPA’s submission, we hope to represent
> the voices of Australians by including personal stories from people
> who have been affected by suicide.
>
> Every story is important. We invite you to have your say by sharing
> your story and allowing us to incorporate it into SPA’s submission.
> Your story may reflect any number of possible personal experiences
> with suicide. For example, you may be a suicide attempt survivor,
> bereaved by suicide, a caregiver of someone who is suicidal or
> bereaved by suicide, a witness of suicide, you may have dealt with
> suicide in the workplace, have been impacted by media reporting of
> suicide, or simply be a concerned community member. Your personal
> story may also include ideas about how we can create a more
> connected, inclusive, resilient and safer community.
>
> To gather these stories, we have created a dedicated page on the SPA
> website where people can upload their individual stories. Please
> click here or visit http://www.suicidepreventionaust.org to find out more.
>
> Personal stories can be submitted on the website until Wednesday
> 28th October 2009.
>
> If you have any questions about SPA’s Senate Inquiry submission,
> please contact Jo Riley, Senior Project Officer, on (02) 9568 3111
> or email senateinquiry @ suicidepreventionaust.org
>
> We ask that you forward the email appeal through to your own
> networks, both personal and work-related, so we can spread the message as far and wide as possible.

NZ Background:
The request from Australia, parallels a recent similar request that I made through MENZ:

Request for you to share your suicidal ideation experience

Thus far, I have heard people discuss their experiences, but nobody has been willing to share their experiences, in a formal manner. Unfortunately, this weakens my ability to back up the proposition that Dr. Viv Roberts and I have presented, that the familycaught is an active and large scale driver of suicide in our society. I am keen to drive positive changes, so that fewer people are murdered each year in this manner.

Why not?

Best regards, MurrayBacon.