WGAR News: The extensiveness of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander suicides - 1 in 20: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer

Newsletter date: 1 March 2015

Last updated: 3 March 2015

Contents:

* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Suicides are preventable - here is what we must begin to do
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: The extensiveness of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander suicides - 1 in 20
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Preventing suicide - "no greater legacy"
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Understanding Australia's suicide crises
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, Green Left: Aboriginal suicides rise amid worsening conditions
* Analysis / Opinion: Susan Allan, WSWS: Australia: Eleven-year-old Aboriginal boy commits suicide
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: "It is racism killing our people - suicides born of racism"
* Analysis / Opinion: Sue Lannin, ABC News: Government Indigenous suicide prevention programs are a failure, NT elder David Cole says

* Audio Interview: Let's Talk's Tiga Bayles interviews Gerry Georgatos about the continuing increasing rate of suicides
* Audio Interview: Graham Backhaus, The Wire: Suicide crisis - Indigenous People [Featuring Mr Gerry Georgatos]

* WGAR Background to Suicide and Self-harm in First Nations Communities

* Crisis Support - Talk to Someone - 24-hour/day 7-days/week:
Lifeline - Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 https://www.lifeline.org.au/Get-Help/
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

WGAR News Public Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en-GB#!forum/wgar-news
WGAR News - Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Suicides are preventable - here is what we must begin to do
http://thestringer.com.au/suicides-are-preventable-here-is-what-we-must-...
26 Feb 15: "It is important to listen to people. It is imperative. It is a dangerous myth that people who talk about suicide do not mean to do it. For goodness sake, people who talk about suicide are in trouble, they are screaming out for help. People need people. Suicidal ideation journeys grief, anguish, anxiety, depressions, the sense of failure, identity crises, the sense of hopelessness. The majority of people who are talking about ending their lives are thinking about doing this. There needs to be calm and patience but concomitant with a sense of urgency, even if this means just being there, even if a word is not shared - but people need people. We may not get our words right but what we must get right is that the other understands, even in any silence, that we are there for them." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: The extensiveness of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander suicides - 1 in 20
http://thestringer.com.au/the-extensiveness-of-aboriginal-torres-strait-...
25 Feb 15: "Whereas it was reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that for the period 2000 to 2010 one in 24 of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths were by suicide, in the period since this rate has increased to one in 20. The suicide rate is even higher than is reported. But this already high frequency of reported suicide as a cause of death has a traumatic effect on peoples who already endure a disproportionately overwhelming burden of bereavement stress because of the high rate of premature and unnatural deaths. ... " By Gerry Georgatos

 

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Preventing suicide - "no greater legacy"
http://thestringer.com.au/preventing-suicide-no-greater-legacy-9703
24 Feb 15: "Around the world, more than 800,000 people die by suicide per year. It is more likely that the true number of suicides is closer to two million. The impact on families of suicides and unnatural deaths are devastating and long reaching. On average more people die by suicide than die due to wars and civil strife. ... Australia’s Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples overall have more than double the national rate of suicide, and in some regions six and seven times the national suicide rate. Some regional Aboriginal youth suicide rates are among the highest in the world." By Gerry Georgatos

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Understanding Australia's suicide crises
http://thestringer.com.au/understanding-australias-suicide-crises-9606
20 Feb 15: "Each day, a suicide is brought to my attention. I have written widely on the suicide crises. I have written about the disproportionate rate of death by suicide for the descendants of the First Peoples and for first and second generation Australians and for LGBQTI Australians. Recently I wrote about the tragic suicide of 18 year old Philinka Powdrill, who represents so many of the suicides that tear at families long after one is gone. In the last few days, I learned of three more young Aboriginal persons suiciding while in the prime of life – all of them women; ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a Community Consultant with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP). The views in this article are his own.

- Analysis / Opinion

Green Left: Aboriginal suicides rise amid worsening conditions
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/58074
23 Jan 15: "Last year, suicides and unnatural deaths rose in the Kimberley, after an assumed decline in the past few years following a horrific spate of suicides from 2005 to 2008. The Kimberley has the nation’s highest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide rate. It has one of the world’s highest suicide rates. Coupled with the horrific premature and unnatural death rates, the Kimberley is a catastrophic nightmare for too many of its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples." By Gerry Georgatos

- Analysis / Opinion

World Socialist Web Site: Australia: Eleven-year-old Aboriginal boy commits suicide
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/08/suic-d08.html
8 Dec 14: "Two months ago, Peter Little, an 11-year-old Aboriginal boy, tragically committed suicide in the Western Australian city of Geraldton. While the death was met with shock and an outpouring of grief from his family, friends and Aboriginal community, the federal and state governments have remained largely silent. Media reports on the suicide were cursory. ... These deaths are an indictment of capitalism. A social order that offers only poverty, unemployment and misery to young children, and drives them to suicide, does not deserve to exist." By Susan Allan

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: "It is racism killing our people - suicides born of racism"
http://thestringer.com.au/it-is-racism-killing-our-people-suicides-born-...
7 Dec 14: "The Commonwealth Government has no choice but to prioritise above all else the suicide crisis shaming this nation. If it is not abated, the maddening crisis is the starkest portrayal of a racist nation. There are no excuses to hide behind, no justifications, other than heartlessness. Today, I bring to you the story of another suicide, of another young life cut down by the abomination of racism. During the last couple of years, The National Indigenous Times, The National Indigenous Radio Service and the online independent news site, The Stringer have led the way in sustaining the coverage on the suicide crises that most media did not utter a word about. ... " By Gerry Georgatos

"Declaration of impartiality conflict of interest: The author of this article, Gerry Georgatos, is a senior researcher and community consultant with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP)."

- Analysis / Opinion

ABC News: Government Indigenous suicide prevention programs are a failure, NT elder David Cole says
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/government-indigenous-suicide-prog...
20 Nov 14: "The $25 billion state and federal governments spend each year on Aboriginal programs has failed to stem high rates of youth suicide, an Indigenous elder from the Northern Territory says. David Cole said Indigenous communities in the Top End have some of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world and funding should be redirected to grass roots Aboriginal organisations to stop the deaths. Mr Cole established the Balunu Foundation which runs programs for troubled Indigenous teenagers and over the last seven years has worked with more than 650 young people. ... " By Sue Lannin, ABC Radio Current Affairs finance reporter

- Audio Interview

Let's Talk's Tiga Bayles interviews Gerry Georgatos
http://www.989fm.com.au/podcasts/lets-talk/gerry-georgatos-17/
3 Mar 14: "Co-Editor of The Stringer, Journalist and First Nations Rights Advocate. Gerry speaks about the continuing increasing rate of suicides in the First Nations community and his recent trip to communities with Warren Mundine and Nigel Scullion. ... "

- Audio Interview

The Wire: Suicide crisis - Indigenous People
http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=10972
http://www.thewire.org.au/audio/GB%20suicide%20FINAL.mp3
25 Oct 13: "Young Aboriginal people have the highest rate of suicide in the world. One in twenty-four Aboriginal and islander people die by their own hand and in some Aboriginal communities the rate is up to 100 time the national average. ...
Featured in story: Mr Gerry Georgatos - university researcher and journalist" Produced by Graham Backhaus

- Background

WGAR Background to Suicide and Self-harm in First Nations Communities
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/24/wgar-background-to-suicide-and-self-...
(last updated: 25 December 2014)

 

- Crisis Support - Talk to Someone - 24-hour/day 7-days/week:

 

Emergency
For immediate assistance when life may be in danger
Call 000
https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/emergency

 

Lifeline’s 24/7 hotline
13 11 14
Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention services
https://www.lifeline.org.au/Get-Help/

 

Suicide Call Back Service
1300 659 467
Twenty-four hours a day seven days a week
The Suicide Call Back Service provides free nationwide professional telephone and online counselling for anyone affected by suicide.
https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

 

Useful national contact numbers - Suicide Prevention Crisis Contacts
http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Suicide_Pr...

 

Mens Line
1300 78 99 78
MensLine Australia is a professional telephone and online support and information service for Australian men
http://www.mensline.org.au/

 

Kids Help Line
1800 55 1800
aged 5 - 25 yrs
http://www.kidshelp.com.au/

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)