SEMaphore: More suicide prevention support for Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia

A new suicide prevention initiative is coming to Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia

The mental health and wellbeing of people in Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia who are refugees, seeking asylum or from CALD communities will now be better supported.

Better Place Australia will partner with Southern Migrant Resource Centre to deliver a new activity – the Refugee, People Seeking Asylum and CALD community Suicide Prevention Capacity Building Initiative in the Southern Melbourne Area from March 2021.

The initiative will take place in the Local Government Areas (LGA) of Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia. These areas are home to a diverse range of new and emerging communities, with almost half of all young people born overseas, including refugees and people seeking asylum communities.

Better Place Australia will build on and expand the work undertaken in the Placed-Based Suicide Prevention Trials over the past three years with a focus on keeping these local activities going long-term. This will involve designing and implementing a local, community-based approach to suicide prevention, including mental health and wellbeing, as well as increasing access to mental health services for CALD, refugee and people seeking asylum communities.

The activities will utilise the Black Dog Institute’s Lifespan model and a co-design model with these local communities to guide their development, implementation and evaluation.

This project is funded by the Place-Based Suicide Prevention Trials, a partnership between the Victorian Department of Health and Victorian Primary Health Networks.