Opening Address: Hon. Peter Dunne, Associate Minister of Health
TRANSCRIPT
OPENING ADDRESS
Hon. Peter Dunne
Associate Minister of Health
When I look around this audience I see an extraordinary turnout of people. Judi tells me there are around four hundred of us in this room, and that you come from a range of diverse backgrounds, from families who are affected by suicide, from community groups through to District Health Boards, Commissions, NGOs and the Police.
Such a response to an event like this is extremely gratifying, because it really contributes to our community taking the steps that it needs to, to make significant progress in reducing the rates of suicide through the involvement of the whole community.
The theme of today’s conference is ‘how do we talk about suicide’. It’s certainly a good question, and it’s one well worth reflecting upon.
The real issue is not whether we talk about suicide, but how we talk about it. And one of the key ways that suicide is talked about publicly is through the media.
The way suicide is reported has the potential to be both helpful and harmful. So getting that balance right is important, but it can be difficult to achieve.
In New Zealand, the Coroner’s Act plays an important role in determining what information can be published about a suicide. For example, the Act does not prevent the media from talking about general issues relating to suicide, including suicide policy, statistics, or information about getting help.
Media coverage can help by providing information about warning signs, and letting people know where they can go to seek help if they are concerned about themselves or someone close to them.
The Coroner’s Act does place some restrictions on media reporting of individual suicides. And there are good reasons for having legislation to ensure careful and deliberate consideration before information about individual suicides is made available.
The first among these reasons is because the price to be paid if we get it wrong can be extremely high. There are real risks associated with reporting suicides, particularly, for instance, youth suicides. With young people having vulnerabilities that the adult community needs to be aware of, and become far more tuned into.
And the research evidence tells us that inappropriate reporting of youth suicides may contribute to copycat behaviour. And this is particularly important in New Zealand, where our youth suicide rate is high by international standards, and particularly so for young Maori.
The Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean has recently commented that a careful and measured opening up of reporting on suicide could be a positive thing, and I endorse that sentiment.
Over recent months I have convened round table sessions with some of the country’s leading media executives, and medical and mental health representatives and clinicians to look at developing a set of media guidelines for reporting on suicide.
These meetings have determined that there could be value in developing such a resource that all media would be able to use to ensure some consistency of approach. I think this has been a big step forward, and I’m keen to see a continuing effort made across all media to encourage greater consistency in how they report the issue of suicide.
Having a common set of guidelines in place, with goodwill from media, and advice from the health sector, can only be a positive step forward. Now this important work is ongoing, and I expect that by the end of this year there will be a resource in place that will be supported by the media organisations.
And I say for those who have concerns in this area, without media buy-in on this issue, we are frankly back at square one. We’re also conscious of the role that new technologies including social media and networking sites can play in helping, or hindering efforts to reduce suicide.
There’s sometimes a tendency, I think, to focus on the potential for negative consequences from social networking sites. For example there are concerns that memorial sites can increase the risk of copycats by glorifying the life of a person who died by suicide. But the reality is that the internet is here to stay, and social media is now a fundamental part of our world. We cannot, by definition of what social media is, control it, so that means we need to be thinking about how to maximise its benefits while remaining aware that harm can occur even if unintentionally.
Young people are technologically savvy, so we need to work on the very positive fact that we can reach them through these techniques with helpful and important messages, and make that more and more the reality.
The research shows that websites and social networking sites are able to provide young people with positive contacts and information about how they can reach out for help.
The key initiative which the government supports is The Lowdown website as part of the national depression initiative. The Lowdown site helps young people deal with depression and other mental illnesses through the internet and text messaging.
I’m also aware of other online networks that provide support. An excellent example of this is The Nutters Club Facebook page, which evolved from the highly successful radio and television programmes of the same name.
There has been a tremendous amount of good work from comedian Mike King, who was the key to it all beginning.
Here, people are able to reach out to each other, and know that they can express themselves without feeling as though they’re being judged. More honesty, more openness, more willingness for people to express their vulnerabilities.
Between them, the likes of John Kirwan, and more recently Mike King, have done a huge service to this country. We all have a role to play in suicide prevention.
The government’s ongoing work programme is set out in the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy and the associated action plan. The action plan brings together activity across a range of government agencies, including the health, education and justice sectors.
Major efforts have been made to improve our mental health and addiction services. In particular we’ve placed emphasis on developing community mental health initiatives and services, and strengthening the primary healthcare sector’s responsiveness to people who have mental health problems.
We all know that suicidal thoughts and feelings can be overwhelming, and they can be very frightening. And it’s crucial that people harbouring these feelings have way they feel they can ask someone that they trust for help.
The death of a loved one by suicide is simply a devastating experience. No words are adequate to describe that. Many people who are bereaved by suicide report feelings of guilt, blame and responsibility for the death of the person concerned. And in turn, these reactions may increase their own risk of mental health problems and associated suicidal behaviour, so it’s vitally important that in these situations that the families, the friends and the others in the community who might be affected, are given the support that they need, because the issues they deal with in their grief and their loss are complex and can become insidious.
The government provides support to families and whanau, friends and communities through services such a Victim Support, it’s bereavement service. And the important work that Victim Support does in the initial response to a suicide is highly valuable. For example, technical matters like informing them about the coronial process, as well as helping them start to come to grips with the loss they’ve suffered.
I want also to recognise the valuable work done by Clinical Advisory Services Aotearoa – CASA – and the support that it provides to communities. CASA’s community postvention response service provides a support service that helps communities address and manage suspected, or confirmed suicide contagium. And it does this by working with communities to collect information and to decide what steps, if any, may be needed.
Suicide prevention is a key focus area for the government. Next year we will start work on refreshing the Suicide Prevention Action Plan, so today’s conference was extraordinary timely, and I will be extremely keen to hear your feedback and your suggestions.
Thank you again for the invitation to be here at the start of the conference. I regard it as a real privilege. I do wish you well for your deliberations, because I think your work is for the good of our nation, and your work will make a real difference in many people’s lives.
