Suicide story: An evaluation of ‘tackling suicide Our Way’
| Author | John Guenther,Mona Roberts,Keith Buzzacott,Danielle Dyall |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X221104841 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Academic Articles |
Academic Article
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2022, Vol. 22(3) 157–172
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/1035719X221104841
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Suicide story: An evaluation of
‘tackling suicide Our Way’
John Guenther
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Batchelor, NT, Australia
Mona Roberts
Australian Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, Australia
Keith Buzzacott
Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Central Australia, NT Health, Alice Springs, NT, Australia
Danielle Dyall
Australian Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, Australia
Abstract
Despite concerted efforts to improve strategic responses to suicide, it remains a major
concern in Australia. Among Indigenous communities the rates of suicide are up to
three times higher than among non-Indigenous communities. Indigenous males are
three times as likely to suicide than Indigenous females. The death rates for the
Northern Territory are second highest in Australia, at 27.4 deaths per 100,000
population. In the Northern Territory, a program called Suicide Story is working to
empower Indigenous people, creating a language to talk about suicide, and giving them
tools to respond to the warning signs of suicide. The program was developed by
Indigenous people and is run by Indigenous people in response to community needs.
This paper draws from an evaluation of the program conducted in the Northern
Territory at its 10-year mark, in 2018. Although it is impossible to assess how many
lives have been saved, this paper takes a position that resilience is an indicator of
prevention. One way to achieving this is through culturally safe processes. Based on the
evaluation findings, we consider what that means for Suicide Story and other culturally
safe suicide prevention programs designed with and for Indigenous people in Australia.
Corresponding author:
John Guenther, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, c/o Post Office, Batchelor, NT 0845,
Australia.
Email: john.guenther@batchelor.edu.au
Keywords
suicide prevention, cultural safety, Suicide Story, mental health, resilience
Introduction
Suicide Story is a suicide prevention and community capacity building program de-
veloped specifically with and for remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern
Territory of Australia. The program content was developed through the teaching and
guidance of Aboriginal people and centres on the specificities of Aboriginal protocols
and suicide. Program workshops are delivered by local Aboriginal facilitators trained in
the Suicide Story content and ‘both-ways’learning. The program uses cultural par-
adigms to guide participants through the process of understanding suicide and reducing
stigma so that participants can effectively identify and respond to suicidal risk signs
within their communities.
Suicide Story was developed by the Mental Health Association of Central Australia
(MHACA) in partnership with local Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory. A
Suicide Story Aboriginal Advisory Group (SSAAG), established in 2011, ensures
cultural safety and storytelling integrity through workshop delivery. The program
recognises the importance of utilising a localised and culturally specific approach to
suicide prevention that respects the needs of each community, consistent with rec-
ognised good practices associated with Indigenous suicide prevention programs
(Dudgeon et al., 2022). Although the program was initially developed as a mental
health initiative under MHACA’s guidance, as Suicide Story began to take shape, it was
accepted that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, suicide prevention
interventions should embrace concepts of social and emotional wellbeing (Gee et al.,
2014).
The evaluation, led by the first author of this paper, was conducted during 2018 with
a report released in 2019 (Guenther & Mack, 2019). In early 2021, the program
transitioned to come under the management of the Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance
Northern Territory (AMSANT), but with the same Aboriginal Advisory Group pro-
viding cultural governance and advice for the program. Although the evaluation report
presents findings and recommendations, this paper is designed to explore more fully
what cultural safety means in the context of a suicide prevention program delivered
primarily by and to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. The evaluation team
visited sites only in the Northern Territory, specifically Tennant Creek, Arlparra,
Kintore, Ntaria, Lajamanu, Mt Liebig and Papunya.
Program history and context
The demand for suicide prevention programs arises from the tragedy of lost lives. At the
launch of Suicide Story in 2010, Laurencia Grant commented on the rationale for
Suicide Story:
158 Evaluation Journal of Australasia 22(3)
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