These guidelines contain recommendations for the effective and appropriate psychosocial assessment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people presenting to hospital with self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

In response to the recent high rate of suicide deaths among Indigenous young people and children, and the Western Australian Coroner’s report of the Inquest into the 13 Deaths of Children and Young Persons in the Kimberley Region, Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention hosted an Indigenous Youth Suicide...

With the support of the Queensland Mental Health Commission, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in Mental Health (NATSILMH) and Centre for Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) hosted a stakeholder workshop on the 14 November 2018. This was facilitated by Professor Kerry Arabena.

In June 2018, the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention facilitated a workshop to investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lived experiences of suicide. The aims of the workshop were to ensure the meaningful inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in an overall Lived Experience Project.

This background paper presents an overview of suicide in Indigenous peoples in countries where there is a dominant white society. The countries reviewed for suicide rates were Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada, the United States of America, Greenland, and Scandinavian countries of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.