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.

This framework has been developed by the NSW Mental Health Commission and the NSW Ministry of Health, in collaboration with people with lived experience of a suicide attempt or suicide bereavement, government agencies, mental health organisations and experts in suicide prevention.

This report considers the status of Australia’s core national mental health and suicide prevention reforms, and their impact on the wellbeing of consumers and carers.

This is the second guide intended to support Primary Health Networks (PHNs) working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations to co-design and co-implement integrated approaches to suicide prevention.