Collaborative #7: Big, bold ideas approaching suicide prevention
The Collaborative brings people in health and community services together to come up with fresh ideas to approach suicide prevention.
We recently held our seventh Collaborative to form ideas in a Shark Tank-style event.
(L-R: The ‘Shark’ panel - Ivan, Nikki and Jesse)
What happened at the “Shark Tank Style” Collaborative event?
A burst of ideas, inspirations, connections, struggles and creativity flowed through the “Shark Tank Style” Collaborative event held in Cairns last month.
Borrowing from the popular TV show Shark Tank - the “Shark Tank Style” event was designed to be a fun and interactive way of pitching new and interconnected approaches to suicide prevention.
Guest “Sharks”, Queensland Mental Health Commissioner Ivan Frkovic, entrepreneurial social change leader Jesse Martin and award-winning Town Planner Nikki Huddy joined 40 collaborative members from across the region bringing their ideas and expertise to stretch and test our attendees’ ideas further.
Building on our previous workshops which focused on developing a Common Agenda and identifying the Critical Shifts required to achieve change, this event used a creative design approach to work on practical solutions.
A wide variety of ideas and solutions were pitched to the “Sharks” addressing racism, education, access, systems and stigma, and discrimination.
Overarching themes from the day included the need for locally designed and led solutions, a focus on community development, a call for longer funding cycles and flexible, adaptable funding that can respond to changing needs.
Overall hope, accountability and capacity building were central to every new initiative.
Ideas included:
A Reset Button for Education: A fundamental shift in the education system that involves stakeholders to collect and share best practices that address entrenched norms of suspensions and exclusions in schools.
A 100-year roadmap to eliminating racism: a roadmap broken down into 10-year increments that are locally designed and delivered. It is multigenerational and recognises the complexity of the societal shifts required.
One System, One Service - System Navigator: a regionally specific System Navigator that incorporates various social services, including health, youth justice, child safety, social, emotional, well-being and housing. Designed to assist individuals and families who are required to navigate a range of complex systems as well as the people who work within those systems.
Focus on Policy: a cultural shift in policy-making towards economic development and community empowerment, so that communities can determine resource allocation based on their current need rather than population size.
All for one and one for all: a community-based initiative to eradicate the stigma surrounding suicidal ideation, incorporating young people, elders, parents, community leaders, and change facilitators, cultivating emotional intelligence and expanding support networks.
The ideas that were pitched at our "Shark Tank Style" event are big and bold and still in the early exploration stage.
What's next?
A series of “side sessions”.
Side sessions. A “side session” is an opportunity to come together about a particular issue that is linked to the work of the larger collaborative.
Each side session will take a pitch idea and stretch it, test it and explore it, considering what needs to be added and what else needs to be done.
The Life Promotion and Suicide Prevention FNQ initiative is building a movement for change by working towards new narratives and conversations about suicide as well as creating integrated community responses.
At each Collaborative event, the aim is to provide an environment where people will learn something new, meet and connect with someone they may not have met before and leave feeling better than when they arrived!
Side sessions will be held in April. check our events page for more details.
