Reframing suicide

It's a Mind Field!

Many people across Australia and the world are afraid to talk about suicide. A common misconception is that talking about it will encourage and lead to suicide.
In episode 11 of It’s A Mind Field!, we start the conversation about suicide and some of the myths around it. We take a first-hand look at the factors that drive suicidal thinking and behaviour and reveal the powerful effect that holding space for someone going through this can have.
*This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to someone, please visit the Mindframe website where you will find a list of contacts.
Our guests:

Max Simensen has worked in Mental Health Peer Worker roles for over 7 years in the public mental health system, with his first job being at a local headspace when he was 17. Max fell in love with being able to harness his lived experiences and personal learnings to sit with others in familiar dark places.

Max is an openly trans man who is passionate about the rainbow community but also embracing all other diversities of the human condition and pushing for social justice.

Max has experienced intense times of suicidal thinking and behaviours over many years, and lost his younger sister two years ago after she took her own life. Max wants to change the way we look at suicide and how we hold space in those times. He is currently the SafeHaven Coordinator - which is a new peer-led service focused on offering an informal space staffed with people who have a lived experience of suicide as an alternative to emergency departments.
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In Club Mind, Leon, Caz and Chris then talk about the impact that suicidal thinking and behaviour has had on their lives.
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Tim is a nurse practitioner in mental health liaison at the Emergency Department of a major Sydney Hospital and has been in this role for over two decades.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.
Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.
Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au
IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website