KEY POINTS:
The suicide toll needs to be as prominently publicised as the road toll, says a leading social worker.
More people kill themselves than are killed on the roads each year.
It's a statistic which should be more widely publicised, says Dr Rory Truell, head of Te Kaiawhina Ahumahi, the social services industry training organisation.
"We clearly have a long way to go in acknowledging those untold tragedies off the road, and a lot to learn about being more open as a society about the deaths that we could collectively do more to prevent."
The most recent statistics, for 2005, showed 502 people killed themselves in that year. The road toll for the year was 405.
Dr Truell said being more open about suicide and creating a society more knowledgeable about suicide was important.
It would make people more aware of the danger signs and more able to look after each other.
Some experts believe publicising suicide encourages copycat behaviour, but others believe the best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it.
In this year's Budget, Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said $23.1 million would be spent over four years on a range of initiatives in the Government's suicide prevention strategy.
These included pilot suicide prevention programmes for district health boards, a public awareness campaign on the effects of depression, and a community-based education programme.
"Although the rate of suicide in New Zealand has decreased by around 20 per cent since 1998, it is still far too high and needs continued commitment to keep the number of these tragic deaths down," Mr Anderton said in May when he announced the funding.
Mr Anderton, who lost a daughter to suicide, has been a passionate advocate of the suicide prevention strategy.
Dr Truell said Mr Anderton's work in promoting the suicide prevention strategy was commendable.
But he questioned whether five DHBs piloting suicide prevention co-ordinator positions would be enough to bring about change sooner rather than later.
"Speaking from experience, the role of the caring services is to guide and facilitate family and community supports and when needed offer additional expert counselling," Dr Truell said.
"Yet little emphasis seems to have been placed on building community responses and ensuring that the helping services work within communities to support vulnerable people."
