Today, on World Suicide Prevention Day, Jesuit Social Services’ Support After Suicide program remembers the lives lost to suicide and acknowledges the deep grief and immense strength of their family, friends and communities left behind, while calling on governments to recognise long-term, evidence-based postvention support as a critical suicide prevention measure and fund it accordingly.
“Each death by suicide represents a person who was deeply loved by their family and friends, but what statistics do not show is the profound and long-lasting impact of this loss on the people and communities that loved and cared for them,” says Dr Louise Flynn, General Manager of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention at Jesuit Social Services.
“Beyond the tragic loss of the person, we know from research that the impact of a death by suicide is felt by up to 135 people including family members, friends, colleagues and first responders. Researchers have found that bereaved people are 65 per cent more likely to attempt suicide if they are grieving for loved ones who took their own lives.”
Established in 2004, Support After Suicide provided direct support to almost 800 people over 2025/26 and is one of the few services to provide long-term, tailored and evidence-based support to those bereaved by suicide.
“This support extends far beyond individual counselling at a time of crisis, as providing a coordinated response to communities is an essential part of an effective suicide prevention program. The measure of an effective postvention strategy lies not only in each individual response, but in its collective impact - a ripple effect that builds resilience, connection, and healing across the community,” says Dr Flynn.
Support After Suicide’s coordination of Postvention Protocol Response Groups in Melbourne’s south-east brings together key community organisations following a suspected suicide to coordinate a timely and appropriate postvention response, with the aim of mitigating the impact across the community and preventing further suicide. The need to explore ways to improve information sharing processes after suicide to enable more effective real-time postvention responses is something that has previously been recommended by the Coroner’s Court.
“We call on Governments to enable responsible information sharing so that areas of risk can be identified and the risk of further loss to suicide is reduced”, says Dr Flynn.
“Demand for our service is growing, but funding continues to be short-term and fragmented. Now is the time to ensure all states and territories fund evidence-based postvention services embedded in local communities and develop information-sharing systems that support suicide prevention and help reduce future risk.”
Contact details:
Media enquiries – Kathryn Kernohan, 0409 901 248 or [email protected].