With one in five Australians impacted by a mental health condition during their lifetime, it is crucial that we strive for the best services, supports and solutions.
At the University of South Australia (UniSA) our mental health researchers are working closely with those with lived experience, and in partnership with clinicians and health providers, to ensure their holistic approaches remain person-centred and trauma-informed.
Their inspiring work is already having meaningful impact in our community.
When you donate to the UniSA Mental Health Research Fund, 100% of your donation will support our key researchers to address current mental health challenges..
Together, we can strive for long-term wellbeing by informing both prevention and treatment of mental ill health through research.
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The power of sleep on young people’s mental health
Dr Jillian Dorrian
Sleep is vital to live a healthy and fruitful life, and not getting enough – or the right kind – has detrimental effects on an individual’s mental wellbeing. more...
Sleep is vital to live a healthy and fruitful life, and not getting enough – or the right kind – has detrimental effects on an individual’s mental wellbeing.
Furthermore, the emerging field of chronobehaviour has led to an increasing recognition that it is not simply what we do, but when, and how consistently we do it, that impacts on physical and psychological functioning.
Professor of Psychology and Dean of Research at UniSA’s Justice & Society, Dr Jillian Dorrian, is an expert in sleep and advocate for chronobehaviour and its importance in healthy development. She is currently investigating its ultimate effects on young people’s mental health during precarious development ages.
Her most recent project is focused on behavioural coping strategies for remaining healthy despite exposure to sleep loss and has allowed her to turn her attention to the pressing issue of young people’s mental health.
As champions for the importance of sleep for healthy development, Dr Dorrian and her colleagues at UniSA have a close collaboration with Resilient Youth, Victoria, a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting health and learning for school students in Australasia.
Together, their analyses of the Resilient Youth database, including health information for more than 350,000 students in more than 1,500 schools, are contributing to our understanding of the critical importance of sleep for biological, psychological, and social health during the school years.
Collaborative research with Resilient Youth, and with the SA Department of Education highlights important relationships between technology use (e.g. text messaging at night), sleep, eating patterns (including junk food consumption), friendships, and mental wellbeing.
Hand-in-hand with the intrusion of technology into the bedrooms of young people, comes new opportunities for 24-hour experiences of bullying, and associated costs for sleep and mental health.
Shaping our mental health system with lived experience
Dr Mark Loughhead
People with personal experience of mental health challenges and recovery, including suicide more...
People with personal experience of mental health challenges and recovery, including suicide related distress, often develop significant life skills and knowledge which can better guide our service responses, policy frameworks and board room decisions – commonly referred to as ‘lived experience’.
As an emerging workforce, people with lived experience are playing key roles in mental health as peer support workers, project officers, educators, advisors, managers, advocates, and directors. Carers can also be a lived experience voice, expressing concerns and perspectives as family members and friends.
All seek a more gentle, compassionate, and empowering mental health system, free from stigma and shame.
Dr Mark Loughhead, Co-Director of UniSA’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education Group (MHSPR&E) is the inaugural lived experience academic at UniSA, where he teaches and undertakes research from a mental health lived experience perspective.
Working in a partnership between the Lived Experience Leadership Advocacy Network (LELAN) of SA, and MHSPR&E, his research work helps to raise the profile and recognition of lived experience leaders within SA’s mental health organisations and systems.
Furthermore, Dr Loughhead is continuing to promote a peer led, recovery focus within mental health workforces and create compassionate and connecting narratives on mental health.
By working alongside many others, Dr Loughhead’s work helps to identify ways to support emerging leaders, strengthen skills and capacity, and encourage sector organisations and government to improve funding, commitment, and innovation.
Compassion first care in suicide prevention
Professor Nicholas Procter
Suicide rates are on the rise in Australia.
It’s the leading cause of death among people aged 15-49 more...
Suicide rates are on the rise in Australia.
It’s the leading cause of death among people aged 15-49 and men are still three times more likely to die by suicide than women. Aboriginal people die by suicide at twice the rate of non-Aboriginal people (27.1 compared to 12.7 per 100,000 population) and children and young people account for an overwhelming majority of all suicides among Aboriginal people.
To reduce these rates, Professor Nicholas Procter, Chair of Mental Health Nursing and Director of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education Group (MHSPR&E) is addressing the fact that self-harm is a known risk factor, and is working with communities, organisations and government institutions to develop better safety planning interventions.
Statistics show that a ‘personal history of self-harm’ is the most common psychosocial factor associated with suicide, reported in 17.5% and 30.5% of deaths by suicide for males and females, respectively.
Furthermore, research highlights key factors that both contribute to suicide or are indicators of vulnerability to suicide – financial distress, insecure housing, discrimination, childhood trauma, alcohol, and substance abuse.
Professor Procter and his team at UniSA are highly regarded nationally and internationally for leading numerous initiatives aimed at improving the lives of people in mental distress and at risk of suicide.
They have successfully worked with State and Territory governments and national organisations, such as the Australian Red Cross, to provide specific education for their frontline workers in how to address known touch points.
Person-centred planning co-designed with the person at risk, and safety planning can be an effective means of helping people manage the onset or worsening of critical moments in the suicide experience. Taking compassionate steps, often with the support of others, helps to make their situation safer.
Specialist compassionate aftercare in the form of brief interventions following attempted suicide is essential. It can go a long way to supporting people and interrupting a possible trajectory towards suicide in the future.
The team is now expanding this work to institute universal education for frontline workers and people at increased risk of suicide across broader sectors, to better equip staff working closely with people in high-risk groups and reduce the rates of suicide.
Better support for those who care for veterans
Dr Dannielle Post
Family carers of veterans in South Australia have been shown to have high levels of psychological distress as they undertake their caring role in challenging circumstances, often to the detriment of their own psychological and physical wellbeing.
A team of UniSA researchers has been delving into the psychological and physical wellbeing of a group of SA family care-partners of veterans. more...
Image: Quilt created by Operation PTSD Support group
Family carers of veterans in South Australia have been shown to have high levels of psychological distress as they undertake their caring role in challenging circumstances, often to the detriment of their own psychological and physical wellbeing.
A team of UniSA researchers has been delving into the psychological and physical wellbeing of a group of SA family care-partners of veterans.
In fact, their pre-COVID-19 work with family care-partners of veterans demonstrated that more than 70% of care-partners had moderate-to-high levels of psychological distress, and low levels of physical activity compared to population norms. Furthermore, it was discovered that care-partners with higher resilience were likely to do more physical activity.
Dr Dannielle Post, Lecturer in Health Sciences: Public Health and Project Lead: Healthy Choices at UniSA, is leading this team of impressive researchers in understanding the emotional and practical support needs of family care-partners of veterans for reducing depression and promoting wellbeing.
Based on these findings, this current project seeks to establish the psychological and physical wellbeing of family care-partners across Australia and identify the emotional and practical supports required by care-partners to enable them to maintain their own wellbeing needs, with the intention of circumventing the development of depression.
The project is examining the psychological wellbeing (depression, resilience, and quality of life), health behaviours (physical activity, sedentary time, sleep, smoking, alcohol intake, and medication use), and impact of COVID-19 for care-partners.
Dr Post says that we need to understand these factors to be able to make meaningful recommendations for interventions and policy changes that support care-partners to reduce their risk of developing depression and associated poor health outcomes and improve their wellbeing.
Importantly, family care-partners who are appropriately supported to manage their own psychological and physical wellbeing needs will not only experience improved health and wellbeing, but also be better equipped to manage the demands of their caring role.
Teaching children ‘You Matter’
Professor Mary Steen
An estimated 1 in 7 children and young people suffer from mental health conditions more...
An estimated 1 in 7 children and young people suffer from mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress and other behavioural concerns. It is anticipated that those already struggling will be at increased risk of not being able to cope very well post-COVID-19.
It is therefore vitally important to provide education and training for young people in South Australia to enable them to develop self-care skills that include self-compassion, building resilience and strengthening their immunity, to prevent mental illness and sustain wellbeing.
UniSA Midwife and Professorial Lead for Maternal and Family Health, Professor Mary Steen, is working towards providing children and young people with the support and ability to sustain their health and wellbeing through a new program called You Matter: Compassionate Self-Care.
This holistic self-care program consists of three components: self-compassion (self-kindness, shared human experiences, calm and relaxation techniques), building resilience for wellness (Mind Resilience Model) and Start Treating Others Positively techniques, and finally, building your immunity to stay healthy (by eating well, exercising daily, and sleeping well).
You Matter: Compassionate Self-Care will be piloted in collaboration with Grow Wellbeing, a South Australian based organisation formed in 2016 to help embed health and psychological services in schools, school communities and community organisations.
It will be rolled out to the network of 52 schools across the state where Grow Wellbeing mental health clinicians are currently providing support to children and young people. The breadth and scope of this pilot project has great potential to have a real and positive impact on the health and wellbeing of a broad range of school children throughout the state.
You Matter: Compassionate Self-Care and its three important components will enable clinicians, children and young people to develop self-compassion, build resilience and immunity life skills to help them collectively ‘Stay Well, Stay Safe and Stay Healthy’.
Responding to workplace bullying
Professor Michelle Tuckey
Workplace bullying is a serious health and safety hazard in Australian workplaces, more...
Workplace bullying is a serious health and safety hazard in Australian workplaces, with one in 10 Australian workers experiencing ongoing bullying at work.
It can be tempting to see bullying as a behavioural problem caused by a small number of staff members; however, the balance of scientific evidence suggests instead that bullying is an organisational problem that reflects poor conditions in the organisation.
To uncover which unhealthy conditions enable bullying at work, UniSA researchers looked at 342 real-life bullying complaints.
Their analysis identified 10 root cause risk factors for bullying that all stem from how well people and tasks are coordinated. In a five-year program of research, a risk assessment tool and intervention process to tackle these root causes were developed, tested, and refined.
Through this collaboration with a range of industry partners, UniSA researchers – led by Professor Michelle Tuckey – have created a risk assessment tool and intervention process that recognises and resolves bullying as a work health and safety issue arising from the work culture and environment.
Using the intervention process and assessment tool, Professor Michelle Tuckey and her team work together with partner organisations – from the frontline to the boardroom – to identify where and how to change work systems and practices in order to bully-proof the organisation.
This evidence-based approach is unique in the world in effectively identifying and addressing the root causes of bullying, enabling organisations to build mentally healthy work environments and workplace cultures. Early results suggest marked improvements can be quickly delivered in workplace conditions, measurable in metrics such as absenteeism.
The team is now setting its sights on robust and scalable delivery systems to address the scope of this workplace challenge, creating bully-resistant organisations nationwide.
Frontline approach to transform lives of traumatised children
Professor Leah Bromfield
A new series of online training courses focused on transforming the lives more...
A new series of online training courses, focused on transforming the lives of children who have experienced child abuse and neglect, will support frontline practitioners to deliver world-leading responses to abuse-related trauma, as part of a new leading initiative.
Sexual abuse and the impacts of abuse related trauma continue to be significant social issues with up to 27% of Australian females and 12% of males reporting experiencing childhood sexual abuse.
The Royal Commission into Institutional responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended service capacity in treating abuse-related trauma be increased, particularly for children.
In response, Professor Leah Bromfield with her colleagues at the Australian Centre for Child Protection (ACCP) at UniSA are leading a new initiative, The Pursuit of Excellence in Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect (PERCAN). In partnership with Lotterywest and Parkerville Children and Youth Care (Inc) in Western Australia, this initiative is focused on the development of new high-quality therapeutic responses to child abuse and neglect.
As part of PERCAN’s program of work a new tertiary accredited online series of three Professional Certificate courses is being developed by specialist trauma clinicians and research experts across key identified areas of need.
Through the PERCAN program of work, a new co-designed approach for a high-quality evidence-informed therapeutic response to Aboriginal children with complex trauma is in development. The approach will then be adapted for use with non-Aboriginal children across Australia.
Strong cultural governance, including an Aboriginal Cultural Leadership Group, has been established to ensure culturally competent therapeutic responses are embedded.
The PERCAN initiative and its programs of work are firstly being designed for the WA service context and client populations, with the intention of rolling them out nationally.
One of the most powerful ways to transform the lives of children affected by abuse and neglect is to support frontline workers, ensuring they have the tools and information they need to effectively respond to children and their families.
Ifarmwell – support designed for farmers
Dr Kate Gunn
Australian farming communities are continually exposed to challlenges more...
Australian farming communities are continually exposed to challenges associated with drought, fires, floods, disease, increasing costs and wavering produce prices, as well as a poor understanding of their industry from those outside of it.
The inability to control these stressors and the sense of hopelessness and entrapment this may cause, is a potential risk factor for rural male suicide. In fact, there is a higher incidence of suicide among farming populations.
Due to their geographic remoteness, farmers have reduced access to professional support. They are often also reluctant to seek out these services for a variety of reasons, including stoicism, stigma, inability to leave the farm and concerns about privacy.
UniSA Senior Research Fellow, Dr Kate Gunn, has created a new website to equip farming families with tools that reduce the negative impact that these sorts of stressful situations have on their lives.
Dr Gunn’s work over the past 10 years - comprehensively examining rural mental health issues - has been fundamental to the development of the ifarmwell website (www.ifarmwell.com.au), an innovative new online resource specially tailored to the needs of rural communities.
The website was inspired by Dr Gunn’s personal experiences growing up on a South Australian farm, and is informed by her professional work as a Clinical Psychologist and through extensive consultation with Australian farmers.
Feedback received from farmers and industry partners is that this website is particularly valued as it was created with farmers, for farmers, is confidential, relevant, accessible, and is free.
Testimonials highlight that the website is meaningful, gives users hope, provides distance from overwhelming thoughts and feelings, as well as strategies to make the most of their lives - despite the challenges they may face.
Having developed and rolled-out the website, Dr Gunn continues to expand the offerings, developing new modules in a variety of formats (including video) to meet farmers’ changing needs. She is also hoping to increase the reach and take-up of the website so that more farmers can benefit from this resource.
Can artificial intelligence predict depression?
Professor Elina Hyppönen
Depression remains a leading cause of disability worldwide and can have lasting, debilitating effects on an individual’s wellbeing more...
Depression remains a leading cause of disability worldwide and can have lasting, debilitating effects on an individual’s wellbeing and quality of life.
Researchers at the Australian Centre for Precision Health (ACPH), led by Professor Elina Hypponen, are now dedicated to preventing the condition before it strikes.
Professor Hyppönen has multiple highly cited papers which are ranked among the top 1% of papers in the field globally.*
The ACPH team has recently conducted an important genetic study that suggests that depression itself is a causal risk factor for 22 other conditions including asthma, heart disease, high cholesterol, oesophagitis, and gastroenteritis among others.
With detailed information collected from more than 500,000 people, the team is using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify new predictors for depression. Professor Hypponen and her team will use AI modelling as a way of allowing the data to show which risk factors best predict who will end up developing depression.
These AI models will use information from more than 11,000 characteristics describing the individuals before they developed the condition, providing a truly unique opportunity to obtain new insights into risk factors and pathways to depression.
They will also be able to ‘look into the brain’ (using detailed information available through brain images) and see how these same factors that increase the risk of depression affect different aspects of brain structure.
This will be the first time that researchers will have the opportunity to investigate the links between the physical structures in the brain and their associations with depression in the context of risk factors.
It is a ground-breaking and transformative approach which will provide the opportunity to identify new, modifiable risk factors of depression and inform future strategies to prevent this debilitating condition.
*Clarivate, Web of Science, Data retrieved 11-9-20
New technologies for people experiencing post-stroke depression
Dr Brenton Hordacre
Across the world there are 80 million stroke survivors, more...
Across the world there are 80 million stroke survivors, with almost 50% of those millions of stroke survivors experiencing post-stroke depression.
Post-stroke depression is under recognised and poorly treated, with incredibly negative consequences for recovery, activities of daily living, self-efficacy and mortality.
Current pharmacology management is hampered by several side-effects and poor treatment adherence. With more than 50,000 strokes occurring each year in Australia – and projections expected to reach one million stroke survivors living in the community by 2050 – it’s never been more important to find better treatments for people with post-stroke depression.
There are exciting developments coming out of the Innovation, Implementation and Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) team at UniSA, with a promising brain-based therapy providing new hope for these post-stroke depression sufferers.
Senior Research Fellow and Plasticity Theme Leader at IIMPACT, Dr Brenton Hordacre has been dedicated to helping people recover following stroke for most of his career. Now leading the Neurorehabilitation Advanced Technology Service, he is translating these research findings into clinical practice, working directly with patients.
He’s also passionate about testing new technologies to augment stroke recovery and use state-of-the-art neurophysiological and imaging techniques to understand the brain and how it responds to treatment.
Dr Hordacre and his IIMPACT team’s current research involves repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) – a safe and promising treatment that increases brain activity with electromagnetic pulses. RTMS works to change neural activity in the brain to improve depression. However, translating this therapy to post-stroke depression is challenging. Most notably, stroke causes permanent damage to brain tissue and alters the way it functions, dampening the ability of rTMS to modify neural activity.
This is why Dr Hordacre and his team are dedicating research efforts to identifying neural characteristics that enable greater clinical response to rTMS treatment for post-stroke depression, with hopes of implementing the research through a dedicated stroke rehabilitation clinic at the University.
There is a lack of evidence-based research for this type of intervention in a somewhat neglected aspect of stroke care. With one in two stroke survivors suffering with post-stroke depression, identifying new treatments would be a significant breakthrough for stroke survivors, their families and the wider health system.
Treating older people with major depression
Dr Rasika Jayasekara
Major depression is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly, more...
Major depression is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly, with an estimated prevalence of 15% - 25% among nursing home residents.
Some older people, despite taking antidepressants, continue to experience symptoms and or disabling adverse effects. Therefore, there is a growing need to consider alternative forms of treatment.
Senior Lecturer, Dr Rasika Jayasekara, and his UniSA colleagues examined which current treatments are the most effective for older populations, including cognitive behavioural therapy.
Cognitive behavioural therapy, a form of psychotherapy, is regarded as a non-pharmacological intervention that can provide people with depression with the skills to manage their illness and positively influence their symptoms by changing their behaviour and thought process.
However, up until Dr Jayasekara's review, the usefulness of cognitive behavioural therapy as an intervention in depressed older adults had not been adequately evaluated to make clinically meaningful recommendations.
Dr Jayasekara's research incorporated a systemic review of current evidence with mental health clinicians' expertise, and listened to consumers' experiences through focus groups to develop effective and feasible recommendations.
The key finding was that cognitive behavioural therapies are likely to be efficacious in older people with depression when compared to treatment as usual. From a clinical perspective, cognitive behavioural therapy can be used as a first option in treating depression in older adults.
An Australian-first study reducing avoidable hospital admissions
Dr Lisa Kalisch Ellett
Each year in Australia there are more than 250,000 hospital admissions caused by medicine use.
Given 50% of people with a mental health more...
Each year in Australia there are more than 250,000 hospital admissions caused by medicine use.
Given 50% of people with a mental health condition take medicines, this is an increasingly important issue. While some can be managed through non-drug therapies, conditions like schizophrenia usually require people to take antipsychotics that can cause unpleasant side effects, including sedation, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction – a common reason for non-adherence.
Dr Lisa Kalisch Ellett and a group of UniSA researchers hope to conduct an Australian-first study identifying the prevalence of potential medication-related hospital admissions in adults with mental health conditions, and the extent to which these could have been prevented.
Many medicines used to manage mental health conditions require close monitoring and dose titration in order to ensure efficacy and safety. However, up to 87% of people using these medicines don’t receive the necessary support and monitoring.
Additionally, homelessness and substance abuse can create additional challenges and stigma for people with mental illness. These barriers can include access to follow-up care and medicine adherence.
Working with the Flinders Medical Centre and Northern Territory Top End Health Service, the multidisciplinary team aim to identify the types of medication related problems most associated with hospital admission. The data collection will be led by clinician researchers at these sites.
The results of this project will allow the development of targeted interventions to improve medicine use and reduce avoidable medication-related hospital admissions in adults with mental health conditions.
More broadly, developing interventions to reduce medication related hospital admissions has the potential to substantially reduce capacity issues regularly experienced in Australian hospitals.
Perinatal mental health support in the palm of your hand
Dr Lois McKellar
Having a baby can be a wonderfully exciting time. However, for many, the expected challenges are compounded with perinatal anxiety and depression.
Up to one in five more...
Having a baby can be a wonderfully exciting time. However, for many, the expected challenges are compounded with perinatal anxiety and depression.
Up to one in five expecting or new mothers, and one in 10 expecting or new fathers, will experience perinatal anxiety or depression.
The condition affects around 100,000 families across Australia every year. Left untreated, it can have a devastating impact on parents, partners, babies, and the rest of the family.
Associate Professor of Midwifery, Dr Lois McKellar, is applying her knowledge and evidence-based research to better support Australian families during this time through a new app called Yourtime.
Yourtime is a new and unique app that responds to priorities in perinatal mental health. It promotes positive mental wellbeing by providing a digitalised tool that enables parents to self-monitor and track their mood during pregnancy and early parenting – assisting them to recognise the early signs of perinatal anxiety or depression.
Specifically, the app places perinatal mental health support in the palm of the parent’s hand. It offers a de-medicalised approach encouraging parents to think about their mental health, and also gives users the opportunity to share their responses with a health professional if they choose.
Dr Lois McKellar is also working towards a networking capability, which will promote the option of sharing and connecting with other parents for peer support, during what will be an exciting but potentially vulnerable time for all.
Once complete, the networked app will be integrated into established maternity services, facilitating open discussions on mental wellbeing during pregnancy and early motherhood, to reach and engage with people early to prevent perinatal anxiety and depression.
Creating a safe online space for young women
Professor Nicole Moulding
In Australia, young women have two to three times higher rates of mental health problems than young men, more...
In Australia, young women have two to three times higher rates of mental health problems than young men, with abuse being a key factor for the increasingly widening gap.
Almost half of young women report high psychological distress, one in five are diagnosed with anxiety and depression (almost double the rate of young men), and almost one in two report self-harming. The higher rates of mental health difficulties experienced by young women are largely explained by gendered violence, which has also increased in recent years.
On top of these worrying statistics, many young women do not seek help from professional services and signs of abuse are often not recognised when they do.
Professor Nicole Moulding is a researcher, author, and educator with special interests in gendered violence, mental health and social work. In partnership with her UniSA colleagues, she is developing a new program to provide a safe, online space specifically for young women who are experiencing mental health issues to improve their wellbeing.
In the UK, gender-responsive trauma-informed peer support programs designed for young women have been shown to improve mental wellbeing by increasing their social networks and self-esteem.
A ‘gender-responsive’ approach means acknowledging the gendered nature of young women’s experiences, including gendered violence. A ‘trauma-informed’ approach means developing a program that recognises the impact of trauma and its signs and symptoms and responding by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, with the aim of actively preventing re-traumatisation.
Professor Moulding and her colleagues are reviewing these successful international models and developing a new program specifically for young women in Australia. For the best results, the team will be working closely with a group of young women to understand their experiences with current services and how they prefer to receive support.
In doing so, the team is actively reducing escalating mental health issues amongst young women to improve their overall wellbeing, ultimately providing a dedicated, safe, online space for young women to connect with each other, lean on each other, share their experiences and bond together.
Preventing rising suicide rates among refugees and asylum seekers
Dr Monika Ferguson
Suicide is the leading cause of premature death for people on temporary visas seeking refugee status in Australia, and recent increasing rates are a key concern.
Despite large numbers of reported incidents of self-harm and high suicide rates among asylum seekers and refugees, research in this area is lacking – a critical issue, considering that at the end of 2019, there were 79.5 million displaced people worldwide.
UniSA’s Mental Health and Suicide more...
Suicide is the leading cause of premature death for people on temporary visas seeking refugee status in Australia, and recent increasing rates are a key concern.
Despite large numbers of reported incidents of self-harm and high suicide rates among asylum seekers and refugees, research in this area is lacking – a critical issue, considering that at the end of 2019, there were 79.5 million displaced people worldwide.
UniSA’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education Group (MHSPR&E) is working to prevent loss of life for this vulnerable group through an education program with demonstrated success.
In 2018, Professor Nicholas Procter (Director of the MHSPR&E Group) and Dr Monika Ferguson launched a crowdfunding campaign, co-designed in partnership with people with a lived experience of suicidality and the Australian Red Cross.
The campaign’s purpose was to provide training for those who work with refugees and asylum seekers to identify signs of suicidality, and to work with this vulnerable group in a culturally sensitive way to seek assistance and intervene early.
The initial fundraising target was met, and they worked closely with more than 400 caseworkers, volunteers, and people with lived experience of suicide across Australia through a two-day suicide prevention education program.
Researchers from the MHSPR&E Group also undertook a systematic review of evidence to determine the key warning signs of suicide for refugees and asylum seekers to inform government and non-government sector workers, and others, to use at the point of care.
As a Research Fellow, Dr Ferguson along with other members of the research team, have been evaluating the program and found it can lead to significant improvements in workers’ confidence, attitudes and competence; key markers associated with a worker’s ability to identify, respond to and manage suicidal distress more effectively.
This has helped policy makers shape responses to refugee trauma and provide person-centred care and safety planning to help address the onset or worsening of suicide related distress.
Following on from this success, Dr Ferguson is now working with frontline SA Health workers to co-design and rigorously evaluate targeted safety planning interventions following a suicide attempt.
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