In 2023-2024, StandBy Support After Suicide (StandBy) undertook a comprehensive review of its national program, with the goal of strengthening its capacity to support individuals, groups, and communities bereaved or impacted by suicide.
Completed in March 2024, the review produced a series of actionable recommendations, highlighting the need for a clearly articulated theoretical framework to underpin StandBy’s service delivery.
In response, StandBy initiated the development of a bespoke theoretical framework grounded in evidence from a public health approach to suicide postvention. This process was informed by a literature review and extensive consultations with people with lived experience, StandBy National staff, partner organisation managers, and program staff.
A project team comprising individuals with both lived experience and practice expertise was established in early 2025 to refine the first iteration of the framework through a co-design process. StandBy engaged a engagement and co-design consultant to facilitate this work. Over two months, five workshops were held with StandBy’s Lived Experience Advisory Group, StandBy National staff, Youturn Postvention Services, partner organisation managers, and program staff to test and refine the framework. A second series of workshops was then conducted to finalise its design.
The resulting framework provides a unifying structure that articulates how StandBy’s services are designed to meet the diverse and evolving needs of those bereaved or impacted by suicide. This work reflects the power of collective wisdom and demonstrates how lived experience and professional practice come together to shape a more inclusive and responsive approach to postvention.
This presentation will explore: