Yassmen Yahya National Suicide Prevention Conference 2026

Yassmen Yahya

Yassmen Yahya is a Senior Project Officer and Community Engagement Specialist with the Witness to War program at STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors), and a Community Development Group Worker supporting Arabic-speaking and refugee-background communities. She has over 15 years of experience working in trauma-informed community development, suicide prevention, and culturally responsive mental health engagement with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Yassmen’s work focuses on shifting suicide prevention responses away from deficit-based and purely diagnostic models toward culturally grounded, relational, and community-led approaches. Drawing on lived experience as a refugee and deep, long-term engagement with CALD communities, she advocates for starting with culture, language, family systems, and trust as core protective factors in suicide prevention. Her practice spans crisis response, national helpline leadership, community consultations, and cross-sector collaboration, with a strong emphasis on cultural safety, narrative healing, and strengthening community protective structures for individuals and families impacted by trauma, displacement, and systemic exclusion.