Today’s world can be a challenging place for young people. When we conducted Young Minds Matter - the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing - a few years ago, one of the unexpected discoveries was the increase we saw in the rates of adolescent depression, self-harming behaviours and suicidal thoughts and behaviours, particularly in older adolescent females. Suicide rates among young Australians are increasing. In the most recent figures, WA recorded its highest suicide rate in more than 20 years in 2017, and suicide continues to be the leading cause of death for 15-24 year-olds. One of the contributing factors to the increasing suicide rate appears to be increasing rates of mental health issues, particularly among young people.
To support research into youth suicide prevention, the UWA Young Lives Matter Foundation was launched in May 2018 by then Foreign Minister, the Hon Julie Bishop. The foundation is chaired by prominent businessman Mr Ronald W. Woss AM. One of the persistent challenges with suicide prevention strategies is identifying people at risk at the time when they most need help. Young Lives Matter seeks to improve our understanding and identification of suicide risk through the creation of a developmental vulnerability index. To date, the prediction of suicide risk has proved to be an insoluble problem. While there is existing knowledge of risk factors for suicide including mental illness, substance abuse, traumatic experiences and ongoing exposure to bullying, the number of people exposed to such risk factors is large compared with available resources within health and community services. Improving the identification of suicide risk has the potential to better target available resources, and to ensure people get the help they need at times of high risk.
Young Lives Matter is a cross-disciplinary project involving researchers across all four UWA faculties and the School of Indigenous Studies. The project team is currently working with the Mental Health Commission and the WA Coroner’s Court to establish the WA Coronial Suicide Information System - a comprehensive database of completed suicides based on coronial and police investigations. The team has also completed two pilot studies, at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Emergency Department and at Perth Clinic, where more detailed, daily data have been collected. We understand that suicide risk fluctuates over time. To make progress in predicting suicide risk, rather than asking can we identify who is at risk, we want to ask when they might be at risk.
We are working with the WA Department of Education on the next pilot study, which aims to improve our ability to identify students that may be at risk within public schools. The work is challenging and time consuming but has the potential to lower the burden of too many lives lost in recent years. In our work reviewing suicide deaths for the Coronial Suicide Information System, we regularly review cases where the individual tried various avenues to seek help before they died. The mental health and social support systems in WA do regularly prevent potential suicides by helping people in need, however services are overwhelmed by workload, risking individuals falling through the cracks in the system. If we had tools that were better able to identify when people genuinely needed help, there is real potential to prevent more suicide deaths by providing help and support when it is needed to those most at risk.
The impact of suicide on families and communities is enormous. Any improvement in our ability to identify who is at risk and when they need support has the potential to save lives.
Associate Professor David Lawrence PhD '01
About the author
Dr David Lawrence is a Principal Research Fellow with particular focus on child and adolescent mental health and the mental health of police and emergency services personnel. After working at the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 10 years, Dr Lawrence came to UWA to study a PhD in public health and psychiatry and behavioural science. He was then able to apply his statistical skills to his research in mental health. Dr Lawrence continued his research at the Telethon Kids Institute while on secondment from UWA before joining the Graduate School of Education in 2016.
Dr Lawrence’s recent project, ‘Answering the Call’, was the first national study of police and emergency services mental health and the largest study of this area undertaken anywhere in the world.
The project identifies the high rates of trauma and distress experienced by personnel in the sector and provides clear evidence to identify ways for agencies and the community to improve mental health and wellbeing in the sector.
Find out more about David and his projects on his UWA research profile.