To tackle this community challenge, The Alliance for Suicide Prevention was launched in 2019 as a world-first, community-based strategy to address the Sunshine Coast suicide problem.

The Alliance is an initiative of UniSC’s Thompson Institute developed as part of a five-year partnership with the federal government.

Informed by the successful European Alliance Against Depression model that has been shown to reduce suicide acts by up to 24% in two years, the Sunshine Coast’s Alliance for Suicide Prevention takes a place based, community-focused four pillar strategy to improve support and optimise treatment for those at risk of suicidality.

The four pillars include:

• A community program that empowers organisations and individuals to play their part in preventing suicide in their community, through training, education, and partnerships
• Partnering with, and upskilling health professionals and those working with vulnerable people to deliver locally informed support and responses to suicide risk and attempts
• A digital platform (iHelp) that connects individuals to mental health and crisis support services on the Sunshine Coast
• Clinical trials to develop new pharmacological treatment options through the translation of research outcomes.

To empower the community to support vulnerable people, The Alliance offers regular training opportunities to individuals and organisations that prepare anyone over the age of 15, regardless of prior experience or training, to become a suicide-alert helper.

More than 150 organisations from various sectors have partnered with the Alliance to contribute to a suicide-safer community by supporting their leaders and staff to participate in training and information sessions, and access mental health resources provided by the Alliance.

The Alliance has also partnered with LivingWorks Australia and the local First Nations community to design and deliver safeYARN, Australia’s first culturally adapted suicide alertness training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

iHelp is an online digital tool developed by the Alliance that connects people to services appropriate to their circumstances, demographics and location by providing immediate help during times of crisis.

Currently, antidepressants are a common medication to treat suicidality, but these can have significant limitations.

For many people, finding an antidepressant medication that works for them can be a long and often unsuccessful process.

Even when the right antidepressant is found, it can sometimes take weeks to have an effect, which is not ideal when a person’s life is at immediate risk.

The Oral Ketamine Trial on Suicidality (OKTOS) was a world-first clinical trial conducted by Thompson Institute researchers to find more effective treatments for suicidality.

The trial found that 69% of participants achieved a clinical reduction in suicide ideation within the first six weeks.

These clinical findings were also supported by brain imaging that showed structural brain improvements in participants.

Importantly, it indicated that oral ketamine could be a viable alternative to intravenous ketamine, which is invasive, expensive and carries a higher chance of adverse reactions.

Based on these groundbreaking findings, the Thompson Institute is continuing clinical trials to investigate the use of oral ketamine as a treatment for other treatment-resistant mental health disorders, including PTSD and depression.