Youth suicide: what guides social work practice in Victorian secondary schools in preventing and responding to youth suicide?

<p>This qualitative study offers a significant contribution to addressing the increasing youth suicide rate in Australia, with suicide now the leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 24 years old (AIHW, 2017, 2020b; Robinson et al., 2016). The research goal is to investigate what guides and shapes school social work practice in preventing and responding to suicidal students in Victorian secondary schools, and the implications for social work practice and education.</p> <p>Eleven social workers were interviewed about what guides their practice when supporting suicidal students. Policies and guidelines provided by the three governing education providers in Victoria were investigated. After analysing the interviews and scrutinising the available policies, key findings were that minimal training was provided by social work education programs to guide social work practice for managing suicidal students, and there was an absence of useful policies from governing educational organisations or schools. The school social worker role had been reduced to responding to high-risk, critical student presentations, rather than offering a preventative, broad systemic approach. A focus on structural issues impacting the most marginalised young people was almost non-existent, and social workers were unable to use their training and expertise to identify and prevent escalation of suicide risk behaviours.</p> <p>Four main recommendations emerged from this study. Firstly, specific suicide training in tertiary undergraduate and postgraduate social work education programs is required. Secondly, clear and consistent policies and guidelines for social work practitioners across the three Victorian educational governing organisations are necessary to underpin practice. Thirdly, individual schools need to formulate a specific policy to respond to high-risk and suicidal behaviours in students. Fourthly, schools should value the specialised skillset of social workers, particularly embracing their structural insights and systemic practices by involving them in whole school approaches to suicide prevention and early intervention, as well as more targeted responses. Emerging from this project is a model and practice principles for social workers to facilitate their efforts to have a greater impact on youth suicide prevention.</p>