🌟 Join us at the 2024 Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Forum! 🌟

This year's forum is all about Championing Change. We've heard you loud and clear from our 2023 and 2022 Forums – you want the know-how to make a real impact. Here's what's in store for you at the 2024 Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Forum:

Details

Friday 22 March 2024
Crowne Plaza, 110 Liverpool St, Hobart TAS 700
8.30am registration, 9am-4:30pm
Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea included in ticket price

Cost

Full Registration $99
Concession $49
We understand that cost can sometimes be a barrier, but we don't want it to stand in your way. That's why we've reserved complimentary tickets for students and community members. Our aim is to ensure that everyone who wants to join our forum can do so. You can choose this option at the checkout.
TSPCN members get a 10% discount - if you didn't receive the email with the code then please get in touch with us.

Travel Assistance: Fuel Costs Support

We understand that attending the Forum may involve significant travel expenses, including fuel costs. We are committed to ensuring that our community can participate without undue financial burden.

If the cost of fuel is a concern for you, we're here to help. Please reach out to our team at TSPCN@reltas.com.au to inquire about possible assistance with your travel expenses. We believe in making our events accessible to all, and we'll do our best to accommodate your needs.

Program

Speakers

Clare Kinsella - Suicide Prevention Australia
- 55,000 Reasons for Reform - The Power of Advocacy

Mitch McPherson & Tash Cloak - SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY!
- Q&A: Channeling Lived Experience into Community Action

Dr Philippa Ditton-Phare – Everymind
- Connecting Tasmanian communities to national programs

Al Brown & Marcus McCrae - Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate
- Tasmanian Championing Change through the Suicide Prevention Strategy

Workshop

Find Your Strength – Advocacy Skills Workshop
- Clare Kinsella & Amelia Hew - Suicide Prevention Australia
  - The power of a clear, unified voice can’t be underestimated. As a sector, we need to work towards representing a powerful and influential stream of voices, that has a clear direction and path for change. The more of us that are part of this groundswell of voices, the stronger our influence as a sector. This workshop is about better understanding the core elements of successful advocacy. We will unlock some of the secrets of engaging storytelling that enables change. We will take a deep dive into advocacy and uncover some key tools to help strengthen your advocacy efforts.

Rural Communities Empowering Grassroots Suicide Prevention Efforts
- Laura Grattidge - Centre for Rural Health and Manna Institute & Dr Philippa Ditton-Phare – Everymind
  - In this workshop you will explore the concept of community-based suicide prevention, including the role of communities and opportunities for communities to be involved with suicide prevention efforts across all levels. You will engage in practical exercises and group discussions, sharing insights and experiences of suicide prevention in rural communities, bringing hope through stories and exploring ways of planning and delivering suicide prevention in regional, rural, and remote communities.

Planning for Success
- Michelle Swallow - Leadership & Change Consultants
  - Strategic planning is critical to long term success. In this workshop you’ll get hands-on tools and tips to take you from project idea to developing a plan you can use to look for support and funding.

You will have the opportunity to choose your preferred workshop, we will do our best to accommodate your preference but venue capacity is limited.

Trade Tables

We're dedicated to fostering connections and sharing information among Tasmanians in the suicide prevention community. At this year's forum, you can showcase your organisation or services with trade tables during scheduled breaks. Connect with fellow attendees and share your resources.

If you'd like to reserve a trade table, choose this option at checkout.

Bio's

Clare Kinsella (she/her) - Suicide Prevention Australia

Clare Kinsella is the Director of Communications and Advocacy at Suicide Prevention Australia and for the past five years she has focused on influencing government to view suicide prevention through a whole-of-government and whole-of-community lens.

Clare has always worked in the health and wellbeing space, utilising her corporate communication and advocacy skills to raise awareness, reduce stigma, empower consumers to access healthcare services and programs, plus drive systemic policy reform to help people in need. She has worked closely with many advocacy groups in an effort to amplify the voice of people with lived experience.

Tash Cloak (she/her) - SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY

Tash had invested most of her professional life in the legal field and in small business management. Gaining so many invaluable learnings and skills in both spaces, however, she says she also acquired some “armour” in attempting to avoid vulnerability and personal exposure.

Tragically in 2016 she lost her best friend, her Dad to suicide. Amongst the devastation Tash recognised wearing “armour” had become an ongoing coping mechanism in “protecting” herself from emotional exposure. But in reality, Tash acknowledges her mindset and actions were keeping her isolated from connection and support. It became her highest priority to find a different way of thinking … and living!

Tash took a leap of faith in 2019, leaving her legal career to join the SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY. Over the past 4 ½ years Tash’s involvement has grown to overseeing the day-to-day operations of Stay ChatTY and lead their large-scale annual community activation, Shorts Day.

Her mission as part of the Stay ChatTY Team is to share her life experiences and learnings as well as lead through connection and kindness – these two simple yet significant tools are game changers!

Mitch McPherson (he/him) - SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY

As the founder of Tasmanian based organisation SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY, Mitch’s journey to raise awareness of suicide prevention and reduce the stigma around mental health began after his younger brother Ty took his own life in 2013.

Mitch, the 2017 Tasmanian Young Australian of the Year and National R U OK? Day Ambassador has had a remarkable journey transitioning from an everyday tradie into a well-respected and purpose-driven public speaker.

Mitch leads with an extraordinary vision for change, courageously harnessing his lived experience of loss to encourage our community to speak up about their mental health and take action. All through the important message of sparking conversations. Since the loss of his younger brother Ty in 2013, Mitch has dedicated his life to helping, educating and encouraging others to speak up about mental health and prevent suicide. All of this important work is well aligned to Mitch’s own personal values: compassion, authenticity, kindness and perseverance.

When presenting, sharing, broadcasting or hosting, Mitch always speaks from the heart. The connection he creates with the audiences he presents to is both genuine and empowering.

Al Brown and Marcus McCrae (he/him) - Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate

Al and Marcus join us to explore how Tasmanians Championing Change through the Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Laura Grattidge (she/her) - Centre for Rural Health and Manna Institute

Laura Grattidge is an Associate Lecturer of Rural Health and PhD candidate at the Centre for Rural Health (University of Tasmania), with experience managing mental health, wellbeing, and suicide prevention program evaluations and research. Laura is also a Lived Experience representative for the Project Management Group at Manna Institute, an online digital institute where researchers from around Australia are working together to address mental health in rural Australia.

Through her PhD, Laura has been exploring the role of community-based suicide prevention in rural communities and developing ‘Best Practice Guidelines for Youth Suicide Prevention in Rural Australian Communities’. Laura is now sharing learnings from her PhD and program evaluation experiences, to empower community-level action and common-sense approaches with lived experience at the centre of all efforts.

Michelle Swallow (she/her) – Leadership & Change

Michelle is a highly experienced facilitator, coach, director and change manager, and is currently Director of Leadership and Change Consultants Pty Ltd. She has built her consulting work on her ability to work with a diverse group of people, concepts, communities and businesses.

She has held a number of senior executive roles, including the CEO of the Mental Health Council of Tasmania and has a background in leadership, governance, advocacy and policy across health, VET, housing, community and capacity building in community, government and private sectors.

Michelle is currently a non-executive director of the Tasmanian Community Fund, and of Community Housing (Tas) Limited. Michelle is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a graduate of the Tasmanian Leaders Program, has a Bachelor of Social Work, studied at the London Business School in Negotiating and Influencing and has qualifications in leadership and management.

She is influenced by a strong commitment to working with businesses and individuals to realise their potential and to making a difference.

If you require further information about the forum, please feel free to contact the Suicide Prevention Team Project Officers, on 1300 364 277 or at tspcn@reltas.com.au.