PROJECT NEWS
New Partnership to Prevent Suicide
Lifeline Australia is excited to announce a new partnership with the Australian Primary Super Fund (APSF). Lifeline Australia and APSF are working together on the delivery of a mental health awareness and suicide prevention program aimed at fund members. APSF approached Lifeline Australia due to their concerns regarding suicide rates amongst their membership, particularly for men under the age of 30.
This partnership gives Lifeline Australia the opportunity to disseminate targeted information to individuals living primarily in regional and rural Australia and to provide them with information on help-seeking options and mental health. Corporate partnerships such as these allow Lifeline to continue offering a range of services for the prevention of suicide in Australia.
SUICIDE PREVENTION
First Glance at Crisis Centre Evaluation
A recent study into the effectiveness of crisis lines is providing some interesting findings into the value of services offered by organisations such as Lifeline. Research conducted by John Kalafat, Ph.D., and colleagues Madelyn Gould, Ph.D. and Brian Mishara, Ph.D., detailed preliminary findings evaluating the services that crisis lines provide, their effectiveness and what their role is as a component of suicide prevention. These findings were presented at The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) 39th Annual Conference, held in Seattle, USA in April 2006.
The studies were able to use innovative tools such as silent monitoring of calls to crisis centres, and follow up calls and interviews with people who had reached out to crisis lines during the study period. There were 91 certified crisis centres in the United States participating in the study.
Some conclusions from this phase of the research were:
- Distress levels decrease during and after calls to a crisis centre
- Crisis hotlines are reaching seriously suicidal people
- Suicidality decreases during and after calls
- Feedback gained from callers supports the logic and mission of crisis centres; and
- Suicide risk assessments need to be given routinely on all calls to crisis centres to avoid missing potential suicidality.
This research is of great interest to Lifeline as it validates the effectiveness and value of crisis services that we provide to the Australian community. More information on this research will be provided once the findings are officially published.
TRAINING AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
Lifeline Learning goes online
Lifeline Australia has recently secured funding from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework to create an industry e-learning demonstration. This online training tool, currently being developed under the working title “Lifeline Learning” will be used as a resource for training Lifeline’s “on call” Duty Supervisors. Lifeline currently has around 5000 volunteer telephone counsellors who rely on supervision and support to ensure that they can continue providing care to callers in an ethical, safe and effective manner.
Lifeline Learning will use an innovative Australian based system to deliver training to Duty Supervisors via the web. While face-to-face assessment will still take place, this new approach means that counselling quality will improve and that training will be more flexible for volunteers and less costly for Lifeline. Funding grants such as these allow Lifeline Australia to continue providing quality training methods to the volunteers who form the back bone of our organisation.
TELEPHONE COUNSELLING
Internet Protocol phones for Lifeline
It’s a busy time for Lifeline’s volunteer telephone counsellors, who are also adopting new technology to assist them in the service they offer to Australian callers. Lifeline has recently introduced new IP telephone technology as one of the steps to improving the 24-hour telephone counselling service - 13 11 14.
The introduction of this technology means that calls are transported to available counsellors over a Wide Area Network (WAN). This advancement provides a greater level of flexibility in routing calls over the Lifeline network, locally, regionally and nationally. While this change has meant months of planning and implementation, it quite simply means that Lifeline is better equipped to answer the thousands of counselling calls we receive each year.
LIFELINE INTERNATIONAL
Expanding the Focus on South Pacific and West Africa.
Lifeline International represents Centres in 19 countries across the globe, each offering a range of different programs for the wellbeing of their communities. As part of this network, Lifeline Australia is working closely with LifeLine International to improve the provision of services in other parts of the world.
LifeLine International has identified an increasing need for supporting Lifeline Centres based in the Pacific and Africa. An International Projects Coordinator has been employed to seek funding opportunities and gain AusAID accreditation for Lifeline Australia. The focus will be on supporting projects in locations such as Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea, as well as West Africa. If you would like to find out more about LifeLine International, please visit www.lifeline-international.org
CEO Message
Welcome to the first issue of Lifeline Australia’s new bi-monthly e-newsletter. Those of you who regularly receive the newsletter may notice some differences in appearance and content. We believe these changes are an improvement, which will allow you greater insight into what we do.
At Lifeline, we greatly value the support of our donors, corporate partners and sponsors. Without your involvement and generous giving, we could not continue to offer Australians vital services, such as the 24-hour telephone counselling line – 13 11 14. This newsletter is just one way for us to acknowledge your support, by providing you with information about the day-to-day activities of Lifeline.
Lifeline is currently experiencing some exciting changes to the way we deliver our service. This issue of our newsletter provides some insight into this growth within Lifeline, such as the expansion of our LifeLine International Team, the development of new e-learning tools and the adoption of new technologies for our telephone-counselling system – which will allow us to answer more calls. The remainder of 2006 is also set to be a busy time, and we hope that you will continue to support us on our journey.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Corporate Gala Dinner
Lifeline Australia will be hosting a corporate Gala Dinner to launch our new Lifeline Suicide Prevention Fund. The dinner will be held on Wed 11 October, at Parliament House in Canberra. If your organisation would like to purchase a table of tickets, make a donation to the Suicide Prevention Fund or receive more information on this event, please email marketing@lifeline.org.au or visit www.lifeline.org.au/spfund
LIFELINE
CENTRE IN PROFILE
Lifeline Central Coast (NSW)
Location: Wyoming, NSW
Years in Operation: 25 years
Number of Staff: 5 full time
Number of Volunteers: 330 (trading & counselling)
Services Offered: Telephone counselling, financial counselling, Lifeline Stores, Care-ring counselling service for lonely and isolated members of the community, telephone counsellor training, Mental Health First Aid training and ASIST training in suicide intervention.
Website: www.lifeline.org.au/ centralcoastnsw
LIFELINE IN BRIEF
| Calls taken on 13 11 14 in July | 33,786 |
| Total Count for 2006 (Jan-Jul) | 245,828 |
| Number of volunteer counsellors | 4,095 |
