Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

School of Psychological Sciences and Roses in the Ocean
Dr Kim Johnston, Associate Professor Kylie King, Mx Jacob Thomas and Ms Skye Bailes.

The School of Psychological Sciences and community organisation Roses in the Ocean have worked in reciprocal partnership over four years to build capacity in suicide prevention. Team members Dr Kim Johnston, Associate Professor Kylie King, Mx Jacob Thomas and Ms Skye Bailes co-designed Australia's first suicide-specific psychology unit, addressing an identified discipline gap and placing lived experience expertise at the centre of curriculum design and delivery. This partnership then expanded to develop the Australian-first Future Leaders program; addressing an identified community gap to strengthen leadership capability among people with lived experience of suicide. The partnership has resulted in the development of a novel leadership scale and multiple co-authored publications and conference presentations. The collaboration has been further instrumental in the development of the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health Community and Lived Experience Engagement and Participation Toolkit, which will direct best-practice across place-based, national, and global research conducted by the Institute.