Changing the Landscape is a national campaign LGBTIQA+SB suicide prevention campaign. This poster will outline the key stages involved in developing the Changing the Landscape Statement, from lived experience codesign through to sector consultation and launch.
Our LGBTIQA+SB communities know too well what is like to have a lived experience of suicide. Systemic discrimination and social stigma continue to impact the wellbeing of our communities. We are more likely to experience suicidal distress than non-LGBTIQA people and in the fabric of our communities, we bare the grief of too many LGBTIQA+SB lives that have ended in suicide. Despite the urgent need, our LGBTIQA+SB peer and lived experience community support services are severely underfunded and generalist suicide prevention services often do not reach or appropriately support LGBTIQA+SB people.
Our communities deserve better, and we decided to do something about it.
With support from LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, Switchboard Victoria created Changing the Landscape, a national campaign fighting for a future where all LGBTIQA+SB people can access life affirming suicide prevention care when they need it most. Over 270 signatories have endorsed the Statement to date, including Everymind, Standby Support After Suicide, R U OK?, Roses in the Ocean, Australian Pride Network, YouTurn, ACON, Transgender Victoria, WAAC (WA AIDS Council), Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA), Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi), Consumers Health Forum of Australia, The Centre for Impact & Change, Diverse Voices and Twenty10.
The poster will demonstrate the necessity of elevating LGBTIQA+SB people with lived experiences of suicide as experts in their own care, the power of collective advocacy, and the impact of bringing leading mental health organisations together to create a better future for LGBTIQA+SB communities.