Victorian Town Tackles High Suicide Rates Through Community Mental Health Training Initiative
Portland, a town in Victoria's Glenelg Shire with suicide rates 45% higher than the state average, has launched an ambitious program to train 1,500 locals in suicide prevention first aid by 2029. The initiative began after a local resident's nephew died by suicide, prompting community members to seek mental health support and training. The program aims to create a network of trained individuals across community organizations who can recognize warning signs and encourage conversations about mental health.
Portland, located in Glenelg Shire in far south-west Victoria, has experienced suicide rates 45% higher than the state average between 2020 and 2024. In response, local resident Peter Taylor and Portland District Health launched a community-driven initiative to train approximately 1,500 people in suicide prevention first aid by 2029. The project began after Taylor attended a four-hour LivingWorks suicide prevention workshop and subsequently organized the first local training sessions in August 2024, which were fully booked within days. Since launching, the program has trained 170 people, with workshops offered free or subsidized by local businesses. To make the initiative financially sustainable, organizers appointed local volunteer instructors to reduce costs from over $5,000 per 30-person workshop. The goal is to train 10% of the shire's working adult population, creating a distributed support network across sporting clubs, workplaces, and community organizations.
What's missing
The article does not provide specific data on whether similar community-based mental health training programs in other Australian regions have demonstrated measurable reductions in suicide rates, which would help contextualize the evidence base for this intervention approach.
What different sources said
- ABC AustraliaCenter
Victorian town fights high suicide rates with mental health first aid
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