2024

The call to action for this year's World Suicide Prevention Day (Tuesday, 10 September) is ‘Start the Conversation’. At Orygen, the #chatsafe team is dedicated to helping young people, their parents, carers and educators talk about suicide and self-harm online, and we've developed evidence-backed guidelines for having safe conversations.  

We know that many people are afraid to start these conversations, both online and in-person. What if it puts ideas in young people's heads? Or encourages them to go looking for unsafe content? Our research actually tells us that it isn’t inherently unsafe for young people to talk about suicide. They just need to know how to do it safely: which is where you can play an important role. 

To mark the day, we're encouraging everyone to start conversations with the young people in their lives about suicide and social media. To equip yourself to support them, it’s a good idea to read up on the guidance for young people, and advice for parents, carers and educators. 

Together, we can help young people understand safe language choices, what makes helpful or unhelpful content, and make it easier for them to seek help for themselves and others. Here are six tips to help you get started... 

6 ways to start the conversation about suicide and social media with young people 
 

1. Ask how the content they see makes them feel 

By talking about how different content impacts them, you can help young people notice when content is distressing, unhelpful or unsafe. If they’re seeing images, videos or conversations that are having a negative impact on their mental health, showing them how to change their algorithm and control the content they see gives them the tools to make their social media experience safer.  

This includes unfollowing or blocking accounts that post harmful content, reporting any unsafe content that breaks the social media platform’s rules, and actively following and liking feel-good accounts and content. 

2. Ask if they’re already talking about suicide with their friends, and how that makes them feel 

It's ok to ask young people directly about suicide, and to use the word 'suicide'. When you do, it's important to listen without judgment. If someone is bereaved or talking about someone who’s died, it's ok to talk about their grief, and how grief can be different for everyone. And if young people are talking online about someone who’s died by suicide or are seeing content that makes them worry that someone might be self-harming or feeling suicidal, checking in with them about how it is impacting them can give them an outlet to share how they’re feeling. You can then offer your support, and help them to find professional support if they need it. 

3. Show them how to find and share mental health support services 

If they’re talking online about self-harm or suicide, it is important that they know: 

• To share the numbers for mental health and crisis helplines (such as Lifeline on 13 11 14), so anyone who urgently needs mental health support knows where they can get it.  

• If they see content that makes them worry that someone is in immediate danger of harming themselves, they should call emergency services on Triple Zero (000).  

• Wherever possible, it’s important to remind others that suicide is preventable, help is available, and mental health recovery is possible.

4. Talk about how different language can change what people think about suicide 

Some language used by people (including adults!) to talk about suicide can reinforce stigma, and can put off people who are at risk of suicide from seeking help.  

For example, if we say “committed suicide”, this can imply that suicide is a sin or a crime. This can create a sense of shame around suicide, and, in turn, make it harder for people who are having suicidal thoughts to reach out for help. Instead, encouraging young people to say “died by suicide”, or “took their own life” is kinder and more sensitive. See the #chatsafe resources for more safe language swaps.  

5. Ask what they think about self-harm and suicide, and dispel some myths  

There are lots of common myths and misunderstandings about self-harm and suicide, which young people might pick up online or from peers. Use our guide to dispel any myths they might’ve picked up. For example, people often think that those who self-harm do it to get attention. In fact, people who self-harm often try hard to hide it, and it’s usually an attempt to cope with strong, negative emotions.  

By helping young people to understand why people self-harm or have suicidal thoughts, we can help create less stigma around these topics, and encourage more people who need mental health support to get it.   

6. Point them to the #chatsafe resources and social media content so they can keep learning in their own time 

We’ve worked closely with young people to make a set of resources that reflect their social media experience. They’re the first set of evidence-backed guidelines in the world that help young people to talk safely online about self-harm and suicide. As well as your chats with them, they can keep learning in their own time by downloading the #chatsafe guidelines, and by following our Instagram account which shares the guidelines advice post-by-post.   

By normalising discussions about social media use and suicide with young people, you can make a big difference to their online safety, and encourage many more at-risk people to get help when they need it. Have a read of our free resources for parents and carers, and for educators, to equip yourself to support them every step of the way.