Oral Presentation National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025

To Meet Them Where They Are: Using Digital Advertising for Suicide Prevention (#26)

Sandersan Onie 1 2
  1. Black Dog Institute, Randwick, NSW, Australia
  2. UNSW Sydney, Centre for Big Data Research in Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia

It is estimated that 50-60% of individuals may not seek help prior to a suicide, even in countries as well-resourced as Australia. However, studies show that individuals may search for suicide-related keywords or topics on online platforms such as Google, Instagram or Reddit - in the privacy of their own internet browser. Thus, presenting relevant and co-designed messaging and links may be an important avenue for intervention. In this talk, I will provide a summary of the work conducted over the past four years on this topic, focusing on key studies, including using Google Ads to reach individuals who have not sought help for their mental health issues, conducting a campaign tailored to First Nations populations across Australia, and targeting Reddit communities where suicide is frequently discussed and disclosed. Following that, we will discuss future directions, including the need for a unified evaluation framework to link these campaigns to population level outcomes. The end goal is that every person in need, is able to quickly, and accurately find the help that they need.