The Collaborative has recently released an Evaluation video featuring some of our members, who reflect on what's going well, and what could be improved in the future.

Some key themes include:

• the importance of the Collaborative way of working 
• how being involved in the Collaborative has been therapeutic for people with lived experience
• why diverse groups of people need to work together to reduce suicides in the Illawarra Shoalhaven.

Linda Livingstone, Collaborative member from COORDINARE - South Eastern NSW PHN, believes that progress is made when people team up for the long haul. 

"You can make progress if you team up with others and actually listen to all the voices in the community. It's possible to have that approach even when dealing with something as challenging as suicide prevention," she says. 

Some suggestions for improvement in the video include working with high-risk groups and large employers, and ensuring there is a review point for the work of the Collaborative.

Carrie Lumby, Collaborative member with lived experience, has a clear vision for the future of the Collaborative and suicide prevention in the region. 

"The boldest vision is that there will be people experiencing suicidality [whose] experience of distress will never be pathologised, but that there will be safe, warm, welcoming places and people for them to go to," she says.

Learn more by watching the video here. Help us spread the word by sharing the video with your networks!