Background:
Located at St George Hospital in Kogarah, NSW, the SafeHaven Alternative to ED is a non-clinical, lived-experience-led safe space for individuals experiencing suicidality and/or emotional distress. Staffed by peer and clinical workers, the service is funded by NSW Health under the Towards Zero Suicides initiative and currently receives additional temporary funding from CESPHN.
The Aftercare Peer Navigator, a senior peer worker and system navigator role working in the St George Hospital Emergency Department (ED) and Psychiatric Emergency Care Centre (PECC), connects with individuals presenting with suicidality and aims to support the transition between hospital and community.
Abstract:
The negative experience of receiving mental healthcare at hospital Emergency Departments is marked by long wait times, traumatisation, and incongruence between the support required and the care received (Brousseau-Paradis et al., 2024). Additionally, accessing alternatives poses challenges such as difficulties mobilising during a crisis (Roennfeldt et al., 2024) exacerbated by the siloing of and lack of integration between various services in systems.
The late 2025 pilot of our ‘ED/PECC Consumer Introduction to SafeHaven’ initiative models how, through relationships, services and systems can be integrated in practice to provide meaningful and effective support for individuals experiencing suicidality and/or emotional distress.
This presentation will demonstrate the value of relationships and relational work in suicide prevention, through the collaboration between the Aftercare Peer Navigator role and the Kogarah SafeHaven. Our joint initiative sees the relational work of peer navigation in the hospital Emergency Department Setting utilised to introduce consumers to SafeHaven; a practical pathway to demonstrate non-clinicial alternatives. Beyond help-seekers' benefit, the initiative has built relationships and integration between the two services as complementary spaces providing support to those in distress and crisis.