Luke speaks with Dr Anna Brooks who is Lifeline Australia’s Chief Research Officer, following the release yesterday of the ABS’s latest cause of death data.

The report shockingly reveals there were 3,249 lives lost to suicide in 2022, which outlines a tragedy that reinforces the critical role of families, workplaces and communities in reducing the number of deaths caused by intentional self-harm.

Dr Brooks says, “Behind every statistic there is a person.  Every life lost is a tragedy that affects families, workplaces and communities. And it is through families, workplaces and communities that we can work to better support people experiencing thoughts of suicide, mental health issues or crisis situations.”

Luke asks Dr Brooks about the sort of things ordinary people like us can do to help people in our lives doing it tough as well as discuss the way we can better use these statistics to help destigmatize the issue of self harm.

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