POSITION VACANT

SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY OFFICER

Responsible for developing, promoting, monitoring and evaluating policy and strategies for suicide prevention in Tasmania. This will include particular emphasis on promotion and prevention policies and strategies. $58,562-$61-911 per annum. Position based in Hobart
Contact: Mark Frohmader on (03) 6233 2283 or email mark.frohmader@dhhs.tas.gov.au
Vacancy No: 512197

For position and application information ? visit www.jobs.tas.gov.au or email dhhs.pd@dhhs.tas.gov.au. Forward your application by Wednesday 3 May 2006 to: The Recruitment Unit, GPO Box 125, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001 or by email to dhhs.recruitment@dhhs.tas.gov.au

Advertised on the CareerOne website

SPEAKERS: WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY

9TH September, Brisbane

The Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), and CAPS (Community Action for the Prevention of Suicide Inc) are looking for speakers with experience in suicide prevention to present at their World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) All-day Educational Forum on the 9th September (a Saturday) this year.

The official World Suicide Prevention Day is actually the 10th September, they believe that the All Day Forum will best attract delegates on the Saturday, and will be holding a fund-raising concert and other activities on the Sunday 10th. Brisbane City Hall will be the venue for this Forum. All speakers will have flights and accommodation and dinner paid for. They have yet to clarify the precise times, topics, and proceedings for this ALL DAY FORUM.

Whilst specific themes have not been finalised, overall themes include: suicide prevention and community stigma/awareness, or any high risk group topics within the field of suicide prevention . Our target is the community (general public) as well as workers in the field. Could you please contact Jacinta ASAP on your availability and willingness to accept this invitation? For your information - The CAPS website - http://www.caps.org.au/ provides information on CAPS, as well as last years topics/presenters and forum proceedings for WSPD.
Please contact: Jacinta Hawgood
Lecturer
Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP) andWHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention
Mt Gravatt Campus, Griffith University
NATHAN QLD 4111
Ph: 07 3875 3394Fax: 07 3875 3450
Email: Jacinta.Hawgood@griffith.edu.auwww.griffith.edu.au/aisrap

Senate Select Committee on Mental Health: Report Released

A national approach to mental health - from crisis to community
First report

This inquiry by the Select Committee on Mental Health has been a unique opportunity to meet with people in the mental health sector, be they consumers, carers, health professionals or administrators. The committee has now produced it's first report: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/mentalhealth_ctte/report/index.htm

Excerpt
17.8 The committee recommends that the Australian Health Ministers agree to (among many other recommendations):

• Integrate the NMHS, National Drug Strategy, National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the National Alcohol Strategy and the delivery of services under these strategies.
• report on measurable targets such as suicide rates, homelessness, use of involuntary treatment orders, medication rates for high prevalence disorders, incarceration rates, and rates of engagement in education and the workforce.

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN SUICIDE PREVENTION RESEARCH post doc training.
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER (URMC)
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY FELLOWSHIPS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN SUICIDE PREVENTION RESEARCH

The URMC Department of Psychiatry Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide (CSPS) seeks applicants for research training fellowships in suicide prevention across the life span. Suicide and attempted suicide are major public health problems, as recognized by the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Congress. Currently there are few researchers who devote their efforts to investigating risk factors associated with suicidal behavior; to developing new approaches for preventing suicide or attempted suicide; to developing and testing clinical interventions with higher risk clinical or community populations; or to evaluating ongoing efforts to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with suicide and attempted suicide, and their antecedents. The Department has sponsored and supported research training for two decades, and its mentoring and research support infrastructure has successfully fostered the careers of many NIH-funded investigators. This fellowship, supported by a National Research Service Award grant from NIMH, is designed for individuals aspiring to academic research careers. Positions are available for up to three years. Core areas of skill development include: psychopathology and psychosocial research across the lifespan, research design and methods, biostatistics, grant writing and writing for publication, and the ethics of research. The Department is a vibrant, multidisciplinary research environment that vigorously supports academic development. Trainees with backgrounds in psychiatry or other relevant medical specialties, nursing. psychology, social work,, or public health are encouraged to apply by submitting a c.v. and statement of career goals and interests, and arranging to have three letters of recommendation forwarded to Dr. Yeates Conwell. Members of under-represented minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
A/A, EOE, M/F Deadline: 19 May 2006

Contact Information: Yeates Conwell, MD Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center 300 Crittenden Blvd., Rochester, NY 14642-8409 Yeates_Conwell@urmc.rochester.edu
(P) 585-275-6739
(F) 585-273-1066

RECENTLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Suicide behaviour over 18 months in recent onset schizophrenic patients: The effects of CBT
In: SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, Vol. 83 (1): 15-27, MAR 2006

Parent-child relationships as systems of support or risk for adolescent suicidality
In: JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 20 (1): 143-155, MAR 2006

The psychological health of sole mothers in Australia
In: MEDICAL JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA, Vol. 184 (6): 265-268, MAR 20 2006
Conclusions: Economic status partly accounts for the relatively poorer psychological health of sole mothers. Sole mothers are more likely than other women to experience debilitating psychological health problems.

A pilot study on differences in aggression in New York City and Madrid, Spain, and their possible impact on suicidal behavior
In: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY, Vol. 67 (3): 375-380, MAR 2006

Relationship between antidepressant sales and secular trends in suicide rates in the Nordic countries
In: BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, Vol. 188: 354-358, APR 2006

The impact of fathers' physical and psychosocial work conditions on attempted and completed suicide among their children - art. no. 77
In: BMC PUBLIC HEALTH, Vol. 6: 77-77, MAR 27 2006

Alcohol consumption, alcoholics anonymous membership, and suicide mortality rates, Ontario, 1968-1991
In: JOURNAL OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL, Vol. 67 (3): 445-453, MAY 2006

Adolescent mental health literacy: Young people's knowledge of depression and help seeking
In: JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE, Vol. 29 (2): 225-239, APR 2006

Mortality in relation to employment status during different levels of unemployment
In: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Vol. 34 (2): 159-167, APR 2006

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in pediatric depression: Is the balance between benefits and risks favorable?
In: JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 16 (1-2): 11-24, FEB-APR 2006

Suicidal adverse events in pediatric randomized, controlled clinical trials of antidepressant drugs are associated with active drug treatment: A meta-analysis
In: JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 16 (1-2): 25-32, FEB-APR 2006
Conclusions: In short-term, placebo-controlled, pediatric studies of antidepressants, active drug treatment was associated with a rate of serious suicidal events almost twice that of placebo.

An international, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial of paroxetine in adolescents with major depressive disorder
In: JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 16 (1-2): 59-75, FEB-APR 2006

Evaluation of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and adolescents taking paroxetine
In: JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 16 (1-2): 77-90, FEB-APR 2006

Treatment benefit and the risk of suicidality in multicenter, randomized, controlled trials of sertraline in children and adolescents
In: JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 16 (1-2): 91-102, FEB-APR 2006

Antidepressant side effects in children and adolescents
In: JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 16 (1-2): 147-157, FEB-APR 2006

Managing depression and suicide risk in men presenting to primary care physicians
In: PRIMARY CARE, Vol. 33 (1): 211+ , MAR 2006

Suicide rates in short-term randomized controlled trials of newer antidepressants
In: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, Vol. 26 (2): 203-207, APR 2006

Suicides in WA worse than the road toll

Article in: The West Australian, 13 April 2006, page 39

Deputy Coroner Evelyn Vicker is highlighting the State's frightening suicide toll, why families hide the shame of suicide and what can be done to prevent further tragedies. Roy Gibson reports. Deputy State Coroner Evelyn Vicker has turned the spotlight on the suicide problem in WA in the hope that lives can be saved and faults in the mental health service rectified.
Ms Vicker is part-way through a series of inquests designed to expose the reality and the terrible tragedy of suicides - and Coroner's Court staff had no trouble selecting five cases at random from the sad statistics which are collated in the office...."The five inquests are not meant to be a witch-hunt against individual nurses or doctors or the facilities. The people who have committed suicide can't be brought back but hopefully we can highlight the flaws and the faults and ensure it does not happen to anyone else." ...The latest statistics show that suicides in WA are running at an average of five a week.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Subsequent suicide mortality among emergency department patients seen for suicidal behavior
In: ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Vol. 13, No.4, pages 435-44, 2 APR 2006
Among the 218,304 patients, the average follow-up was 6.0 years; there were 408 suicide deaths.
Conclusions: The suicide rate among these ED patients is higher than population-based estimates. Rates among patients with suicidal ideation, overdose, or self-harm are especially high, supporting policies that mandate psychiatric interventions in all cases.

Increased Plasma Nitric Oxide Metabolites in Suicide Attempters
In: NEUROPSYCHOBIOLOGY eFIRST, date: 6 APR 2006

Hunter Institue for Mental Health (HIMH) - New Contract

Suicide Risk Reduction in Discharged Patients

The Hunter Institute for Mental Health located in Newcastle, NSW has been contracted by the Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing to investigate models of suicide risk reduction for people who have recently been discharged from inpatient mental health facilities.

By way of background, the National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention (NACSP) has identified this work as a priority given the evidence that those individuals who are discharged from mental health in-patient services have an elevated risk of suicide attempt and completed suicide for up to 12 months following discharge.

In addition to undertaking a literature review, the Institute will also draw conclusions from the formal policies and guidelines that are published by government and professional bodies within Australia and from overseas. We are also particularly interested to find out about any service models that may be being trialled and implemented by mental health services (government or non-government) to reduce the risk of suicide in this target group.

We would like to interview service providers who have contact with people around this transition point, and who are implementing particular models of service provision to reduce the risk of suicide attempts. We are also interested in talking to anyone undertaking research on efforts to reduce suicide in this group.

Please contact Trevor Hazell at : trevor.hazell@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au

Depression's toll 'exaggerated'
Article in: The Australian, April 11, 2006

Depression is nothing like as serious as often claimed and drug companies are helping to exaggerate the scale of the problem to protect a market worth nearly $300million a year. Although depression is common, many assertions doctors and experts make about the illness are "very questionable" and some - such as the claim that 15 per cent of depressed patients go on to commit suicide - keep resurfacing despite having been previously discredited....But Melissa Raven, a lecturer in public health at Flinders University, will tell a conference today there is "too much scaremongering" about depression....

An American paper published in 1970 had suggested that 15 per cent of depressed patients went on to commit suicide but Ms Raven said the findings were based on a subset of people with depression so severe they had been hospitalised, or attempted suicide previously. The findings had since been challenged by many other studies. "The actual suicide rate (among the depressed) is vastly lower than 15 per cent, and yet that study is still being quoted."

Suicide Shame: self-inflicted death claims more lives than road toll

Article in: The Sunday Times, April 9 2006, page 4

"Suicide has overtaken the road toll as one of the biggest killers in WA. Yet the State Government spends a pittance on services to stop West Australians from taking their lives.... the government spends more than $180 million a year to cut the road toll, it forks out less than $5 million a year on dedicated suicide-prevention strategies.... Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention head, Sven Silburn and Health Department Acting Mental Health Section Director, Peter Wynn Owen said more funds were needed for suicide prevention. Prof Silburn said the $225,000 a year his taskforce received from the Government was a pittance...."

Light on the hill fails to shine
Comment on the $1.8 billion mental health package

Article in: The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 April 2006, pg 31

"The $1.8 billion mental health package was trumpeted as a godsend.... The chairman of Suicide Prevention Australia, Michael Duffy, says that while the package announced by Howard has some "wonderful elements", neither he nor his colleagues are confident vital details have been worked through.
"Clearly, it is going to be contingent on co-ordination at three levels - state-commonwealth, public-private, and at an interdisciplinary level. We see this in suicide all the time - people end up dead because people and services and practitioners do not communicate with each other."
Duffy is resigned to the difficulties of attracting more people into the mental health field. "It is seen as a dog's-end job. It has been run down so much for so long - there is a revolving door at the acute end and increasing levels of serious illness in the community because of it...."

Opportunity to save lives has been lost

Article in: The New Zealand Herald, 8 April 2006

"A country burdened by one of the world's most appalling youth suicide rates is in no position to let a chance to make a difference go begging. Yet that is what a parliamentary select committee did this week when it rejected a call to lift restrictions on the reporting of suicide. The veil of secrecy imposed by the Coroners Act will remain, even though the number of self-inflicted deaths confirms it is not working...."

Hope for mental health funds to help cut suicide rate

From: ABC News Online, Thursday, April 6, 2006

"Country doctors hope a major funding boost for mental health will lead to a significant fall in Western Australia's suicide rate. The Federal Government has pledged $1.8 billion to improve mental health funding over the next five years. The package includes increased access to psychiatrists and psychologists under Medicare, funding for mental health nurses to work with GPs, and improved mental health services in rural and remote areas...."

RECENTLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Where did the bodies go? The social construction of suicide data, New York City, 1976-1992
In: SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY, Vol. 76 (2): 166-187, MAY 2006
In New York City during a major political and economic downturn, the Chief Medical Examiner's Office "engaged in defensive structuring .... suicides were "hidden" in reported deaths attributable to non-motor-vehicle accidents and, to a lesser extent, undeter-mined external causes."

Predictors of A&E staff attitudes to self-harm patients who use self-laceration: Influence of previous training and experience
In: JOURNAL OF PSYCHOSOMATIC RESEARCH, Vol. 60 (3): 273-277, MAR 2006
"Conclusions: This study highlights the need for greater staff training in A&E. Despite considerable experience in the field, we found evidence for unhelpful attitudes amongst some staff."

Social and economic burden of suicides in Hong Kong SAR - A year of life lost perspective
In: CRISIS-THE JOURNAL OF CRISIS INTERVENTION AND SUICIDE PREVENTION, Vol. 26 (4): 156-159, 2005

Crisis occurrence and resolution in patients with severe and persistent mental illness - The contribution of suicidality
In: CRISIS-THE JOURNAL OF CRISIS INTERVENTION AND SUICIDE PREVENTION, Vol. 26 (4): 160-169, 2005

The biochemistry of suicide
In: CRISIS-THE JOURNAL OF CRISIS INTERVENTION AND SUICIDE PREVENTION, Vol. 26 (4): 153-155 , 2005

A systematic review of suicide rating scales in schizophrenia
In: CRISIS-THE JOURNAL OF CRISIS INTERVENTION AND SUICIDE PREVENTION, Vol. 26 (4): 170-180 , 2005

MEDIA SUICIDE RESTRICTIONS LEFT UNALTERED

Article in: The Dominion Post [NZ], 5 April 2006, page 5

"Restrictions on media reporting of suicides will remain unchanged, a Parliamentary select committee has ruled. Media organisations wanted the restrictions relaxed to allow greater transparency which, in turn, they said, could lead to a better understanding of the issues surrounding the subject....Youth Suicide Awareness Trust founding chairman Gregory Fortuin .... was adamant that the number of young suicide deaths were not increased by media coverage. They don't get informed by the media. It used to be purely by word of mouth, but today it is cellphones and text messaging "'

Position Vacant

Project Manager – Suicide Prevention

We are currently seeking a suitably qualified person to provide leadership and coordination to support the finalisation and implementation of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy. Suicide is a major issue in New Zealand and the Ministry of Health has been charged with the responsibility of leading and coordinating the Governments’ strategic response. The successful applicant will take a lead role in coordinating the finalisation, launch and roll-out of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy. The coordination of a five year multi-sectoral action plan will also be one of the key deliverables in the first six months.

This is a full time permanent position located in Wellington. For further information on these positions please contact Maria Cotter on 04 495-4392 or email maria_cotter@moh.govt.nz Position profiles and Ministry application form are available at www.moh.govt.nz/vacancies, email recruitment@moh.govt.nz or call our recruitment line on 04 496 2314.
Applications must be received by 5pm, Tuesday 18 April 2006.
Advertised on seek.com