Better health and ageing for all Australians

Mental Health

Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council (ASPAC)

The Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council (ASPAC) provides expert advice to the Australian Government on strategic directions and priorities in relation to the prevention of suicide and self-harm to support implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Program (NSPP) and the Taking Action to Tackle Suicide package.

Mental health

. Fact sheets
. Programs
. Publications
. Data
. Consumer and carer participation

. Mental health sector consultation
.. Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council
.. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Advisory Group
.. e-Mental Health Expert Advisory Committee
.. Health and wellbeing check for three year olds – expert group
.. Mental Health Council of Australia budget implementation workshops
.. Australian General Practice Network workshop
.. Young people and mental health – online youth forum
.. Mental Health Expert Working Group
.. National mental health consumer and carer forums
.. Access to Allied Psychological Services Expert Advisory Committee
.. Borderline Personality Disorder Expert Reference Group
.. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Advisory Group

. National mental health strategy
. COAG national action plan
. Links

This advice supports the Australian Government's implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Program (NSPP) and the Taking action to tackle suicide package.

On 10 September 2011, World Suicide Prevention Day, the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing announced the continuation and expansion of the membership of ASPAC to June 2014 - see World suicide prevention day - bringing experts together to tackle suicide.

The council will be chaired by Professor Ian Webster, Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of NSW, and the membership will encompass people with expertise in clinical, consumer, government, community, academic and professional areas.

The full membership of the council is as follows:

  • Chair – Professor Ian Webster, Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of NSW
  • Mr Jorge Aroche – Executive Director, NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors
  • Dr Siva Bala – Regional Psychiatrist, Kimberley Mental Health and Drug Service
  • Ms Adele Cox - Member for Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention WA
  • Professor Diego de Leo - Director, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention
  • Ms Jenna Denley – Youth Ambassador and advocate for young people's mental health
  • Dr Michael Dudley – Chair, Suicide Prevention Australia
  • Ms Barbara Hocking – Executive Director, SANE Australia
  • Dr Maggie Jamieson – CEO, Lifeline
  • Professor Brian Kelly – Professor of Psychiatry, University of Newcastle
  • Mr Paul Martin – Chair, National Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex (LGBTI) Health Alliance
  • Ms Janet Meagher – Division Manager Inclusion, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Australia
  • Associate Professor David Ranson – Deputy Director, Victorian Institute for Forensic Medicine and
  • Associate Professor Morton Rawlin – Vice President and Chair, RACGP.