Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Lidia Di Lembo and Addison Joy Harper join Katie Woolf to speak about the Suicide Prevention Day Forum in Darwin

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Lidia Di Lembo and Addison Joy Harper join Katie Woolf to speak about the Suicide Prevention Day Forum in Darwin · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Today, as we know is are you Okay Day?
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  Speaker 2: It is an opportunity really to us those around you
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  Speaker 2: if they are okay. But it's also an opportunity really
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  Speaker 2: to get us speaking about mental health and breaking down
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  Speaker 2: that stigma. Now many of you will know Lydia Dilembo,
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  Speaker 2: and we've heard her on the show a number of
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  Speaker 2: times in recent years. Lydia is the founder of Sabrina's
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  Speaker 2: Reach for Life following the loss of her beautiful daughter Sabrina.
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  Speaker 2: Now this year they are really pleased to present the
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two World Suicide Prevention Day Forum. Now it
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  Speaker 2: is all aimed at bringing together key stakeholders in the
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  Speaker 2: sector to create more awareness, reduce stigma, share strategies programs,
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  Speaker 2: and identify recommendations for reducing the incidents of suicide across
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory. Now the event is happening tomorrow and
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  Speaker 2: I'm really pleased to say that joining me in the
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  Speaker 2: studio this morning is indeed Lydia Dilembo.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Lydia.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: And also one of my friends and presenter at the forum,
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  Speaker 2: Addison Joy Harper, Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Katy, how are you going yeah, really.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it is wonderful to have you both in the
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  Speaker 2: studio this morning, and and look, I know that that
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  Speaker 2: tomorrow is obviously going to be a fantastic event in
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  Speaker 2: terms of getting those discussions happening LYDIA.
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  Speaker 1: Firstly, what really is the aim of the forum.
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  Speaker 3: Katie, as it is every year we are trying to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that at least once a year we do
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  Speaker 3: get together in the sector to raise awareness and have
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  Speaker 3: conversations that are much needed around suicide prevention. There's been
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  Speaker 3: a lot happening over the last year, probably in the
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  Speaker 3: suicide prevention space. You know this this sort of time
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  Speaker 3: is a time where a lot more is happening and
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  Speaker 3: investment is happening in suicide prevention across the country. So
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  Speaker 3: you know, what are some of the lessons learned, what
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  Speaker 3: has changed over the last year. But what else do
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  Speaker 3: we need to focus on going forward? And it's having
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  Speaker 3: everyone in the tent in the room where we can collaborate,
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  Speaker 3: share ideas, information and talk about what are still some
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  Speaker 3: of the gaps in the Northern Territory around suicide prevention,
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  Speaker 3: because we do still have a lot of work to do.
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  Speaker 2: And that is I think a really important question to
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  Speaker 2: ask because you and I have spoken on a lot
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  Speaker 2: of occasions in recent years. You know, where are we
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  Speaker 2: still falling short? What changes have we seen, and what
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  Speaker 2: do we still need to see.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's certainly been more investment federally and by
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  Speaker 3: the anti government around suicide prevention. So that's great, but
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  Speaker 3: we still need to see the rubber hitting the road,
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  Speaker 3: so to speak. So one of the areas that I'm
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  Speaker 3: passionate about is lived experience, whether it's in the mental
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  Speaker 3: health area or in suicide prevention area, we do need
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  Speaker 3: to engage more with people that have got that lived
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  Speaker 3: experience because they are the ones who can talk about
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  Speaker 3: their experienced, draw on their pain, and share what they
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  Speaker 3: believe should be happening, to assist those and support those
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  Speaker 3: that are still struggling in our community. So, whether you're
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  Speaker 3: still suffering from mental illness or whether you're bereaved by suicide,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we do need to engage those people, and
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  Speaker 3: there needs to be stronger leadership in how we do that.
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  Speaker 3: It can't be tokenistic, you know, it's got to be meaningful,
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  Speaker 3: and it's got to be focused. And so there are
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  Speaker 3: some moves nationally to make that happen, but I have
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  Speaker 3: to say in the territory, I still haven't seen that
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  Speaker 3: occur as much as it should. So that's that's one
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  Speaker 3: area for sure. And I think collaboration. I think there
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  Speaker 3: are still services that are you know, we're all working
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  Speaker 3: in silos, resources of finite. How can we come together
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  Speaker 3: more to really, you know, solve those wicked problems because
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  Speaker 3: we still have and I don't like talking statistics, but
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  Speaker 3: we still do have the highest rate of suicide in
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  Speaker 3: the country. We still have the highest rate of people
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  Speaker 3: self harming in the country or attempting suicide. So what
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  Speaker 3: is it that we're not doing well?
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  Speaker 2: And this is the thing You've just I think you've
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  Speaker 2: just hit the nail on the head. You've got people
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  Speaker 2: with lived experience, You've got people who can actually provide
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  Speaker 2: some advice, who know firsthand. Why are we not really
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  Speaker 2: listening to those people?
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  Speaker 3: Good question. So I think they're certainly stronger leadership than
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  Speaker 3: needs to happen, not just by government, but they certainly
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  Speaker 3: do have a role to play. The PHN also has
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  Speaker 3: a role to play, and all those that are funded
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  Speaker 3: by various entities, whether it's government or non government. We
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  Speaker 3: are needing to really focus on this a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more because whatever we're doing, and I'm not saying that
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  Speaker 3: not enough is not not much has been done. There
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  Speaker 3: has been some change, and there has been some investment
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  Speaker 3: made in this sector, but we're still not hitting the
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  Speaker 3: nail on the head. We're still very early stages of
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  Speaker 3: trying to influence and shape how we need to do
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  Speaker 3: things differently to cater for those that are struggling, and
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  Speaker 3: not just people who are struggling themselves. But the other
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  Speaker 3: thing I see, Katie, and this is a gap, is
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  Speaker 3: how do we better support the families that are holding
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  Speaker 3: people and are supporting people through their struggles, whether it's
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  Speaker 3: mental ill health or whether it's someone who's bereaved. So
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  Speaker 3: that is still a gap, not just in the territory
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  Speaker 3: but also across Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Addison, you are one of the presenters this year.
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  Speaker 2: You're such a well known and loved member of the community.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to be speaking from your own lived experience
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  Speaker 2: as a transgender person.
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  Speaker 1: What can people expect to hear from you?
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  Speaker 4: Well, normally very open on social media, and you know
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  Speaker 4: in the community about my story, I don't really get
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  Speaker 4: to share or I don't really like to share a
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  Speaker 4: lot of my down moments, so I'll be talking about,
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  Speaker 4: you know, some of the times where I've been in
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  Speaker 4: really dark places and you know, thought about suicide and
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  Speaker 4: how I how I got over that, how I moved
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  Speaker 4: on from that. And you know, my thing is message
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  Speaker 4: is always if I can just help one person in
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  Speaker 4: the community feel better about themselves and feel like, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's okay to be them, then you know my message
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  Speaker 4: has been passed off great.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Was almost surprised to see that you are one of
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  Speaker 2: the presenters, because, as you've said you are on social media,
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  Speaker 2: you are so incredibly outgoing. You're such a beautiful, happy person.
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  Speaker 2: And when I'd realize that, you know, you're going to
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  Speaker 2: be speaking about lived experience, I thought, goodness me, I
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  Speaker 2: know you know, like I know you, I see you
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  Speaker 2: very often, and I did not know that about you,
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  Speaker 2: And I think that that is actually a real like,
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  Speaker 2: it's actually an important thing for people to realize that
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  Speaker 2: that's so often people are going through something that you're
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  Speaker 2: not even aware of, and that we've got to support
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  Speaker 2: each other absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: Everybody has their dark demons, and you know, a front
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  Speaker 4: of mine has always been you know, being happy, loud
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  Speaker 4: and out there and the joker of the party, but
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  Speaker 4: you know, it's when you're at home by yourself, you know.
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  Speaker 4: And I was in a long in a relationship for
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  Speaker 4: a really long time, but even my partner was unaware
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  Speaker 4: of how dark and you know, deep my thoughts were.
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  Speaker 4: But it's really good to talk about it and get
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  Speaker 4: it out there and just let other people know that
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  Speaker 4: it is okay to have dark times. But you know,
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  Speaker 4: there is a way out, There is a light at
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  Speaker 4: the end of the tunnel, and you just have to
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  Speaker 4: keep going.
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  Speaker 2: And those discussions are so incredibly important. I reckon and
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  Speaker 2: we've spoken about this on numerous occasions, but it is
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  Speaker 2: really about breaking down that stigma. And I don't understand
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  Speaker 2: still while we don't talk about about mental health and
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  Speaker 2: depression in the same way that we talk about every
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  Speaker 2: other health issue that we've got.
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  Speaker 5: Absolutely there's still a lot of stigma around it, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 5: and people who are in certain professions also, you know,
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  Speaker 5: they're probably too scared to talk about if they're struggling
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  Speaker 5: because it may impact their job or people in the
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  Speaker 5: workplace having confidence in that person being able to.
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  Speaker 3: Do their job. That's just one example, So yeah, that
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  Speaker 3: is still the biggest challenge destigmatizing conversations about mental ill
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  Speaker 3: health and suicide because that's what we need to do
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  Speaker 3: to help save lives. And I forgot to mention Katie five.
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  Speaker 3: The other sort of big thing happening on the forum
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  Speaker 3: tomorrow is that we do have two panels. So one
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  Speaker 3: is a youth panel, so a bunch of young people
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  Speaker 3: are going to be sharing their thoughts and insights about
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  Speaker 3: what needs to happen in this space to better support
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  Speaker 3: young people in our community. And we also have a
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  Speaker 3: panel of first rect bonders, so we do have police,
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  Speaker 3: Saint John's Ambulance and others are also talking about what
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  Speaker 3: they're doing in this space, but also to hear from
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  Speaker 3: others and answer questions around what perhaps the community feel
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  Speaker 3: they should be doing more of. So those two sessions
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  Speaker 3: are going to be really key tomorrow at the forum.
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  Speaker 2: Now, if there is anybody listening this morning, who is
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  Speaker 2: who's keen to come along to the forum.
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  Speaker 1: Is there still tickets available?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, there are, so we've kept the registrations open until
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  Speaker 3: this afternoon. This year, the forum is going to be
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  Speaker 3: held at Tracy Village and we hope that Yeah, that
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  Speaker 3: venue is the first We've had it at CDU now
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  Speaker 3: for a few years, but we thought we'd just changed
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  Speaker 3: venue and see how that goes. So we're looking forward
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  Speaker 3: to getting as many people as possible there. We do
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  Speaker 3: already have about one hundred and twenty people registered.
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  Speaker 1: That's fantastic, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: But they are still still something it's available.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure that there'll be people listening this morning
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  Speaker 2: who are going to be super keen to head along.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's such an important event to have happened.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate you both coming into the studio this
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  Speaker 2: morning ta have a chat.
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  Speaker 1: With me Lydia before I let you go.
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  Speaker 2: If there is anybody out there listening this morning who
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  Speaker 2: does need support, if they're a bereaved family member who
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  Speaker 2: needs support or wants to reach out to somebody, what's
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  Speaker 2: the best point of action for them? Firstly, yep, so
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  Speaker 2: if they're bereeved stand by support after suicide is the
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  Speaker 2: organization that can provide that post mentioned support. And in fact,
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  Speaker 2: there's a workshop happening this morning that I've just escaped
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  Speaker 2: from to come here, So they're in town and they've
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  Speaker 2: come in for the forum, and of course we do
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  Speaker 2: have our number as well. We do have the monthly
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  Speaker 2: support group meetings that we continue to hold every month
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  Speaker 2: and we had it last night. And then if they're struggling,
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  Speaker 2: of course, Lifeline is the well known number that people
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  Speaker 2: should should contact if they need that support. Thank you
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  Speaker 2: both so much for your time this morning, Lydia Delembo
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  Speaker 2: and Addison Joy Harper, thank.
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  Speaker 1: You both for coming into the studio. Thanks Katy, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: It is just twelve minutes away from eleven o'clock. Still
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  Speaker 2: plenty more coming your way if you want to get
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  Speaker 2: in contact with us eight nine four one one oh
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  Speaker 2: four nine