Suicide prevention is widely recognised as a shared community responsibility; however, opportunities to influence prevention activity are often distributed across both formal healthcare systems and community settings. In remote communities, these domains may operate independently.
This poster outlines the experience of a hospital-based Suicide Prevention and Aftercare Clinical Nurse Consultant in North West Queensland who is also voluntarily engaged in a local community suicide prevention network (Mount Isa Suicide Prevention Network; MISPN). While participation in MISPN is not a formal requirement of the role, engagement is supported by the employing Hospital and Health Service in recognition of the role community-based prevention plays in reducing suicide risk.
Engagement across both clinical and community domains has provided access to prevention levers not typically available within service environments, including informal support networks, local leadership groups, sporting organisations and place-based initiatives. These settings also provide exposure to the perspectives of people with lived and living experience of suicide, shaping local understanding of help-seeking barriers and service access in a remote context.
Insights gained through community engagement informed a successful Western Queensland Primary Health Network (WQPHN) grant application, which funded attendance at the Menzies School of Health Research Stay Strong Train-the-Trainer program in Darwin. Training undertaken in response to locally identified workforce needs has since been delivered within Mount Isa and is currently being explored for integration within Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drug (MHAOD) care pathways.
Attendance at the Stay Strong Train-the-Trainer program also prompted further exploration of how established safety planning frameworks (e.g. Stanley & Brown) may be adapted to better reflect local cultural context in consultation with First Nations staff.
This work highlights how practitioner engagement across both clinical and voluntary community prevention settings may support translation between community-identified need and healthcare system implementation priorities in remote contexts.