Four local Murrumbidgee residents have joined with the Murrumbidgee Local Response Group to encourage community members who are in crisis to STOP and pick up the phone as part of a new suicide prevention campaign.

This World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10), it’s timely to introduce four local organisations who are working together to ensure communities are aware of services and to support a timely and coordinated response for individuals and communities following a suicide or critical event in the Murrumbidgee region.

Almost 4,000 Murrumbidgee locals are now equipped to help prevent suicide, thanks to the LifeSpan Murrumbidgee suicide prevention program.

Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Member for Riverina, The Hon Michael McCormack MP, together with the region’s first responders, mental health agencies, local government representatives, and the Department of Education, today signed a formal Statement of Commitment to providing a coordinated approach to suicide prevention and postvention supports across the Murrumbidgee region.

Today in Young, Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Riverina Michael McCormack formally launched a new suicide prevention initiative.

Minister for Rural Health, Senator Bridget McKenzie, and Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack MP, today launched The Way Back at the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network’s head office in Wagga Wagga. 

Additional support for people after a suicide attempt will now be available to people living in Murrumbidgee communities with an $800,000-a-year investment from MPHN. 

MPHN has funding, provided by the Commonwealth Government, to invest in a new approach to suicide prevention, focusing on evidence and community based suicide prevention activities. 

Australia’s largest integrated suicide prevention program aims to reduce suicide deaths by 20% and suicide attempts by 30%.