By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY Mayor Mick Morland has thrown his support behind the State Coroner’s findings into the “cluster” of youth suicides in Casey and Cardinia in 2011 and 2012.
Coroner Audrey Jamieson’s findings into the spate of youth suicides in Melbourne’s south-east were formally released last month at an official Department of Human Services briefing.
The findings come after the Coroners Prevention Unit (CPU) completed a retrospective case series examination of suspected suicides and hospitalisation for self-harm among residents of the City of Casey and Cardinia Shire, aged 24 and under, for the period 2007 to 2013.
For suspected suicide, the CPU found that compared to previous years the frequency and rate per 100,000 population was elevated in 2011, meeting the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of a “suicide cluster”.
Cr Morland said he and council supported Coroner Jamieson’s recommendations, which centred on developing a suicide prevention and post-vention response framework, which “has the ability to take into account various socio-demographic and geographic profiles of individual local government areas”.
“Council will continue to work collaboratively with our community, state and federal agencies as well as health providers in providing a range of support services,” Cr Morland said.
“Through these and other initiatives, the City of Casey has demonstrated a commitment to leading the community discussion on youth mental health.
“The City of Casey acknowledges the collaboration with the partners and thanks them for their leadership and commitment to the young people and the broader community.”
Specifically in the findings, six suspected suicides were identified among “usual residents” of the City of Casey in 2011, compared to one in 2010 and three in 2009.
Similarly four suspected suicides were identified among usual residents of Cardinia Shire in 2011 compared to one in 2010, two in 2009, and zero in both 2008 and 2007.
And in the two years after 2011, while the frequency of suspected suicides was found to have reduced slightly, it remained higher than 2009 and 2010 in both the City of Casey and the Cardinia Shire – with four suspected suicides in 2012 and 2013 for Casey, and three in both 2012 and 2013 for Cardinia.
The Casey and Cardinia findings were the culmination of years of research, in many ways instigated on 23 November, 2011, when a member of the public contacted the CPU to express concern over the perceived increase of youth suicides in Casey and Cardinia Shire; followed in January 2012 by the formation of the Casey Youth Suicide Steering Committee (YSSC).
The YSSC has developed an online resource kit that can be found at www.sayft.net.
The increase of youth suicides in Casey and Cardinia saw a community summit held in 2012 at the City of Casey chambers, and covered by the ABC’s Four Corners.
Those in need of immediate assistance can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.
