[SPOTLIGHTING LIVED EXPERIENCE IN SUICIDE PREVENTION] Care not Treatment film screening & introduction to the Alternatives to Suicide Approach

A duel event spotlighting peer led alternatives to suicide prevention, thanks to our partners and allies the Critical and Ethical Mental Health Research Group from Adelaide University.

About the Care not Treatment Screening [6.30-7.30pm]:

LELAN is holding a screening of Care not Treatment as part of our Embedding Alternatives to Suicide project. This film was a core component of LELAN’s Learning from Lived Experience (LfLE) Suicide Prevention Project in 2020.

Through the LfLE Project lived and living experience insights and solution ideas for improving community, service and system responses to suicide distress and crisis were gathered in video and written form. We wanted to know what helped, what harmed and what could be done better.

This specific focus was chosen as the lived experience community frequently tell us that service responses in times of crisis are inadequate, and even compound the distress they are experiencing. The film centers the lives and wisdom of eleven people who have been personally impacted by suicide distress and crisis. They generously share their experiences so that the broader voice, influence and leadership of people with lived experience may collectively drive the changes we so desperately need.

This screening is available free to anyone in the community with an interest in understanding suicide and how to best support people from the perspective of people who have lived it.

The film will run for approximately 38 minutes with a brief interim to allow for refreshments, before an introductory workshop into Alternatives to Suicide.

About the Alternatives to Suicide Introductory Workshop [7.30-8.30pm]:

Throughout 2022 and 2023 LELAN is bringing the Alternatives to Suicide (Alt2Su) approach to South Australia. Alternatives to Suicide was developed by the Wildflower Alliance (formerly the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community) in the US. Alternatives to Suicide peer-led community-based groups centre mutual connection and meaning making around suicide distress, thoughts and experiences. They offer non-clinical spaces where people can be honest about their experiences without fear of forced treatment, other forms of coercion, or risk assessment that shuts conversation down.

Whilst the focus of the project is to support the establishment and ongoing running of Alternatives to Suicide groups, another core component is using this model as evidence that community based lived experience-led initiatives work and can be scaled. 

This introductory workshop will provide an opportunity to learn more about the Alternatives to Suicide approach, how it differs to traditional approaches to suicide, and to ask any questions that you might have.

If you have more questions reach out to tanya@lelan.org.au (LELAN Peer Project Worker (Suicide Prevention))