Mental Health A Person-centred Approach

Suicide is a significant national and international public health issue. Each year an estimated 3300 Australians and approximately 650 New Zealanders die by suicide. While suicide is a behaviour not an illness, it can occur in the absence of mental illness. The determinants and precipitants of mental illness and suicide are interrelated and frequently associated with one another. The aim of this chapter is to discuss and describe demographic characteristics of suicide, key definitions and drivers of suicide, suicide risk factors, plus lived experience of suicide and suicide related harms through first person accounts. As with other forms of mental distress, people in suicide and self-harm crisis can be helped through compassionate and person-centred approaches.