Symposia, panel, round table style (max 55 mins) National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025

The National Postvention Leadership Group strengthening postvention services through national collaboration   (#48)

Amanda Glenwright 1 , Fiona McCallum 2 , Kristen Douglas 3 , Kerry Colbung 4
  1. StandBy Support After Suicide, Youturn, Australia
  2. Mackillop Seasons, Australia
  3. Head of headspace Schools and Communities, headspace, Australia
  4. Thirrili, Australia

The National Postvention Leadership Group (NPLG) was established in 2024 as a collective response to the growing need for comprehensive postvention support across Australia. Reflecting the 2025 National Suicide Prevention Conference theme, "Together Towards Tomorrow," the NPLG fosters collaboration between national postvention services to ensure timely, accessible and culturally appropriate support for individuals and communities impacted by suicide.  The NPLG is a partnership between headspace National (Schools and Communities), Mackillop Family Services, StandBy Support After Suicide, and Thirrili. Together, NPLG builds on the strengths of each organisation to improve postvention support in Australia and ensure that no person or community is without the support they need.

The collaboration is dedicated to: 

  • Enhancing service delivery for more accessible and responsive postvention experiences for individuals and communities 
  • Sharing knowledge and practice experiences to continuously improve service delivery
  • Maximising resources available to the sector by jointly developing and sharing tools and materials that enable the system to work more effectively to support people and communities 
  • Strengthening the cultural appropriateness and capability of postvention services 
  • Using data and evidence to inform opportunities for collaboration that are responsive to local need and emerging priorities 
  • Contributing to system reform and helping to build the growing evidence base for suicide postvention 
  • Advocating for sustainable, national delivery of evidence based postvention services

We recognise the value and strength in working together to achieve our goals and the need for collaborating infrastructure to guide our efforts, ensure alignment with national policy and strategy, and connection to Suicide Prevention Australia as the national peak body for the suicide prevention sector. 

At the Conference we aim to introduce "Understanding National Postvention Services in Australia” as a key resource to guide our collaborative efforts and provide comprehensive postvention support to those in need. This resource embodies the theme of moving towards “Together Towards Tomorrow” by offering a nationally informed, yet locally tailored, approach to postvention, reinforcing the collective action in the face of suicide loss. Leaders from each agency will engage participants in a robust discussion, inviting dialogue on how we can further strengthen our collaboration and innovate postvention service delivery to meet evolving community needs. The insights and resource shared by the NPLG will be of value to attendees interested in enhancing postvention service navigation and coordination, respond to emerging needs with a nationally informed yet locally tailored approach, and strengthen the cultural appropriateness and capability of postvention services.