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 the 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 is chaired by Professor Ian Webster, Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of NSW, and the membership encompasses 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
• 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
• Associate Professor Morton Rawlin – Vice President and Chair, RACGP
• Professor Jane Pirkis, University of Melbourne

Page last reviewed: 14 March 2013