Understanding Suicide and Self-harm

The National Suicide Prevention Office (NSPO) was created in response to recommendations in the National Suicide Prevention Adviser's Final Advice. The NSPO has been charged with the task of ensuring a whole-of-government approach to suicide prevention that is informed by lived experience and creates opportunities to respond early and effectively to distress. An initial priority of the NSPO is consulting and collaborating on the development of a National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

This blueprint paper, Understanding Suicide and Self-harm, is intended to help to inform the direction and scope of the NSPO’s whole-of-government approach, including the work it is undertaking around the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. More broadly, it is designed as a resource to promote consistency, coordination and comprehensiveness within and across the suicide prevention sector.

Understanding Suicide and Self-harm answers two fundamental questions: “How can we more clearly define self-harm and suicidal behaviours?” and “What should we be doing to prevent them?”