By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A CORONER has urged the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) set up a local government framework for suicide prevention following the “cluster” of youth suicides in Casey and Cardinia in 2011 and 2012.
Coroner Audrey Jamieson’s findings into the spate of youth suicides in Melbourne’s south-east were formally released on Friday at an official Department of Human Services briefing.
The briefing was chaired by City of Casey Youth and Family Services manager Colette McMahon, while panel members included Suicide Prevention Australia CEO Sue Murray, Headspace CEO Chris Tanti, Monash Health professor Dr Michael Gordon and MAV president Bill McArthur.
The findings come after the Coroners Prevention Unit (CPU) completed a retrospective case series examination of suspected suicides and hospitalisation for self-harm among residents of the City of Casey and Cardinia Shire, aged 24 and under, for the period 2007 to 2013.
For suspected suicide, the CPU found that compared to previous years the frequency and rate per 100,000 population was elevated in 2011, meeting the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of a “suicide cluster”.
Specifically, six suspected suicides were identified among “usual residents” of the City of Casey in 2011, compared to one in 2010 and three in 2009.
Similarly four suspected suicides were identified among usual residents of Cardinia Shire in 2011 compared to one in 2010, two in 2009, and zero in both 2008 and 2007.
And in the two years after 2011, while the frequency of suspected suicides was found to have reduced slightly, it remained higher than 2009 and 2010 in both the City of Casey and the Cardinia Shire – with four suspected suicides in 2012 and 2013 for Casey, and three in both 2012 and 2013 for Cardinia.
Coroner Jamieson recommended the MAV, through consultation with Casey Council, develop a suicide prevention and post-vention response framework, which “has the ability to take into account various socio-demographic and geographic profiles of individual local government areas”.
“As part of the Victorian Suicide Prevention Framework, I recommend that the Department of Health and Human Services, Primary Health Networks, Municipal Association of Victoria, Victoria Police and the Chief Psychiatrist conduct a feasibility study on an information exchange process with the Coroners Court of Victoria,” she said.
The risk factor of social media was discussed at the briefing, with Coroner Jamieson finding an association in a majority of studies between exposure to suicidal behaviour of a person “in the social network” and suicide, despite no study unearthing evidence of a “direct causal relationship” between the two.
Friday’s DHS briefing saw reference to the previous coronial findings into the suicides of seven young residents in the City of Greater Geelong in 2009, in which State Coroner Ian Gray identified “an opportunity to reinvigorate suicide prevention activity in Victoria”.
The Casey and Cardinia findings were the culmination of years of research, in many ways instigated on 23 November, 2011, when a member of the public contacted the CPU to express concern over the perceived increase of youth suicides in Casey and Cardinia Shire; followed in January 2012 by the formation of the Casey Youth Suicide Steering Committee (YSSC).
Ms McMahon said the YSSC had worked closely with lead agencies including Victoria Police, Monash Health, Ambulance Victoria, Headspace and the Department of Human Services.
“This co-ordinated effort is motivated to make long lasting change to ensure the best possible care and outcomes for Casey’s young people,” she said.
“It is focused on developing a strategic and co-ordinated regional response that will continue educating and supporting young people into the future in the area of suicide prevention.”
YSSC has also established the Casey Cardinia Student Wellbeing Committee, with Cardinia Shire Community Services manager Pam Martin echoing her Casey counterpart.
“This committee has provided several forums for teachers and school well-being staff to offer information and advice about suicide prevention and mental health, and build confidence in working with students around this issue,” Ms Martin said.
“The council, along with the other members of the steering committee, aims to ensure schools, professionals and residents are supported in relation to youth suicide and its prevention.”
The increase of youth suicides in Casey and Cardinia saw a community summit held in 2012 at the City of Casey chambers, and covered by the ABC’s Four Corners.
Those in need of immediate assistance can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.
