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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-18 Daily Xml
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Cry for Help Program

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:26): It was my absolute privilege last night to attend the official launch of Anglicare's Cry for Help program at the beautiful St Peter's Cathedral. Cry for Help is essentially a holistic counselling program aimed at preventing suicide by engaging both the person attempting suicide and their family, colleagues and close friends, around the time of the first attempt. As the Reverend Peter Sandeman (who some of us here may know) noted in his introduction:

Suicide doesn't just affect the person making the attempt. It has a social, emotional and financial effect on their loved ones—friends, family and the entire community.

This was also the view expressed by Jackie Howard, General Manager, Active Living for Anglicare. She explained some of the background to the program, and I will paraphrase her quite extensively. I hope I do not misrepresent her in any way because her speech was quite inspiring. The Cry for Help program was born out of Anglicare's Living Beyond Suicide program, which was designed to offer support and guidance to the families and loved ones of those who have committed suicide. The program heard time and time again that early on, when their loved ones made their first attempts to take their own lives, they did not know where to turn for help. Either that or they chose to try to ignore it as a coping mechanism, put it behind them and accept their loved ones' assurances that they were just going through a bad patch and it would not happen again.

Obviously, the overwhelming message that Anglicare got through this program was that, if they could go back (that is, the client's family and friends), they would have done things very differently. They universally expressed the view that any first attempt should be taken seriously and that they wished they knew where to turn to and who to speak to at the time. Obviously, a lot of those people felt a lot of shame and guilt about not acting with the wisdom of hindsight. But again, obviously and tragically, you cannot go back and so recognising those first signs is so important.

So, the concept of Cry for Help was born. Anglicare began the concept by approaching the Flinders Medical Centre to establish a partnership and program which would define itself by taking the first attempt at suicide seriously enough to act decisively and immediately, not only with the individual concerned but with the friends and family and, in some cases, co-workers and work contacts of that individual, with the ultimate aim of building confidence and resilience and support networks so that, hopefully, that first attempt is indeed the last.

Under this program, once a person who has made their first suicide attempt is discharged from the Flinders Medical Centre emergency department, Anglicare will have already been in touch with them. They will have worked with the individual—who for shorthand I might just refer to as 'the client' I think—to identify who the key support people and networks for that person are. They will have spent enough time with the client to find out what sort of intervention and resources they may need, whether it is home visits, phone calls, other social interaction or other resources. Anglicare has also worked to establish partnerships with other agencies to meet identified needs for both clients and their supports. For example:

provision of support through listening and other types of companionship;

education and information on managing the risks and triggers for suicide, including working on suicide risk plans;

information for loved ones on what to expect, how to handle suicidal people and how to ensure their own safety;

providing contact with peers and also, importantly, with those who have experienced a suicide attempt in the past;

the provision of links with professional and community services and a basic case management service to ensure that suitable follow-up has occurred. There is an understanding that no system is perfect and that some services do have significant waiting periods. Anglicare seeks to fill that gap and provide support while clients are waiting for more specialised services; and

Anglicare, of course, as it has always done, advocates on behalf of clients when for whatever reason services do not seem to be being provided as quickly or as efficiently as they might.

There are also the very practical issues that clients and their families and loved ones need at times like this, and the Cry for Help program tries to address some of these needs that traditional services may not. This may be as simple as telling the boss that you might need some time off to deal with childcare or other issues. It might include financial planning, parenting programs, and directions on how they may get more involved community activities to deal with loneliness and disconnectedness.

Finally, among the other guests, including former governor Kevin Scarce (who of course is an Elizabeth boy who has gone on to be the Chancellor of Adelaide University) and the Leader of the Opposition, it was also really good to see the Hon. John Dawkins from another place in attendance. Credit where credit is due: Mr Dawkins has been a long-time and passionate advocate for suicide prevention and a supporter of this program from its inception, as well as a supporter of the MATES in Construction initiative, which provides suicide prevention training right across the construction and mining industry. I urge all members to familiarise themselves with the great work that Anglicare is doing.

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