Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW) Draft Suicide Prevention Action Plan (SPAP) 2026-2029
The Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW) are seeking your input to help us to refine and shape our Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2026 – 2029.
What’s being decided?
To meet the needs of the population who engage with DHW and Health services, collaboration needs to be central. To achieve this, the Department for Health and Wellbeing Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2026-2029 requires public consultation.
We are therefore seeking community input and feedback on our Suicide Prevention Action Plan (SPAP).
Suicide impacts our communities and workforce, and we recognise that health services play a significant role in responding to persons who experience suicide and self-harm related distress.
This consultation is to ensure that persons with lived and living experience of suicide, their support persons, anyone who has been affected by suicide, staff, and the broader community are able to provide feedback to shape and inform the SPAP.
Background
The South Australian Suicide Prevention Act (2011) establishes measures to reduce suicide in South Australia. It promotes best practice in suicide prevention, including suicide prevention training and education, identifying priority populations at risk of suicide, the establishment of the South Australian Suicide Register, and the establishment of a Suicide Prevention Council.
The Act provides a legislative mechanism to address suicide prevention at a whole of population level with a focus on state government agencies as the drivers of the State Suicide Prevention Plan through the development of localised SPAPs.
The Department for Health and Wellbeing is one of the ten government agencies required to develop a SPAP.
The Office of the Chief Psychiatrist (OCP) developed this SPAP on behalf of DHW. It covers current and impending suicide prevention initiatives being undertaken in DHW.
In addressing the issue of suicide within the state, DHW will adopt a clinical and public health strategy aimed at decreasing its prevalence. This initiative will involve collaborating with individuals who have experienced the impact of suicide or suicide related distress, as well as engaging key stakeholders, to promote the adoption of evidence-based care practices.
Our vision is that DHW and all of Health services are committed to delivering compassionate and integrated care, ensuring that service users, their support networks, and employees feel secure, valued, and supported during their interactions with our services.
The draft Plan aligns with current state and national plans and strategies, which include: (add links)
- the National Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-2035 (the Strategy),
- the South Australian Suicide Prevention Act 2021 (The Act),
- the South Australian Suicide Prevention Plan 2023-2026 (The Plan), and
- the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-2035 (NATSISPS).
Get involved
How to get involved:
- Please read the Draft Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW) Suicide Prevention Actions Plan – Compassion, Connection, Hope and Care
Have your say by:
- taking our survey
- attending one of our online forums to support persons with lived experience and their support persons to make submissions to the consultation
- posting your written submission to: GPO Box 287, Rundle Mall, Adelaide SA 5000
- emailing a submission to: Health.TowardsZeroSuicideInitiative@sa.gov.au(External link)
Before you read the Action Plan...
Support and help
We do not know the lived experience of people in regard to suicide and self-harm related distress. Therefore, if you feel worried or upset before, during or after reading this document, or at any time, please stop reading and reach out for supports and seek help.
This may be in the form of contact with friends, family, colleagues, services and supports available through your employment, professional and personal networks. We encourage you to reach out to someone as soon as possible.
What are the next steps?
Your consultation feedback will be considered for amendment and incorporated into the review of the SPAP. This will contribute to the finalised DHW Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2026 – 2029.
The final action plan will be released when complete and will be available on this page.
Survey
Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW) Draft Suicide Prevention Action Plan (SPAP) – Compassion, Connection, Hope and Care
You can offer your feedback by completing this survey, it will take approximately 10-15 minutes, dependent upon the feedback you wish to provide.
Consultation closes 9th December 2025, at 5pm.
Online Forum
There will also be two opportunities to provide feedback via an online forum. We strongly encourage attendance as it will provide opportunities for engagement and feedback on the SPAP from the South Australian Public. The dates of these will be:
